Pat Swords sends this report on the most recent hearing in his case to halt the Irish government's renewables policy in its tracks.
Went in this morning and the state of play was reviewed between myself and the Barrister for the State, as it was set for preliminary review with both Parties before the High Court. We are now adjourned until the 13th March; they want to submit a written defense that there was undue delay, which I then have to prepare a written reply to before the 13th March. It's their only out of the case, so they are going to prepare it in writing, i.e. that Justice Peart should not have granted me leave back in November 2012 for the case to be heard. Their only hope is to get it thrown out on a technicality, i.e. they knowingly bypassed the necessary steps of assessment and democratic accountability back in 2010 and as nobody went straight into the High Court within a narrow timeframe (where access to justice procedures had not been implemented), then de facto it is legitimate to continue to implement the programme. This naturally ignores the later ruling now achieved in the UN that this whole process was non-compliant.