A RULING THAT the delayed €2 billion A5 road upgrade could not proceed in its current form has been quashed in the Court of Appeal in Belfast, a decision that has been welcomed by politicians on both sides of the border. 

Sitting as part of a panel of judges, Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan delivered a judgment which overturned on all grounds a previous ruling by the High Court.

The 93km proposed project, Northern Ireland’s largest ever, was given the green light by Stormont ministers in 2024.

However, last year the Belfast High Court found the Department for Infrastructure’s (DfI) plans for the road did not comply with climate change targets, following a legal challenge from a group including residents, farmers and landowners.

Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins then appealed against that ruling, stating she was determined to see the ambitious roads project completed.

Kimmins and SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan were in the court as the judgment was delivered on Tuesday.

The judge told the court that the litigation history around the project had been “long and tortuous”.

She pointed out that Stormont’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) had become involved in the case at the Court of Appeal stage and had filed new evidence.

She said: “Suffice to say the approach to this litigation adopted by the relevant departments has, in our view, been unsatisfactory and caused delay.

“Whilst we asked for an explanation as to how this came about, the response we received does not satisfy us that full thought was given to this case at the appropriate stages.”

The judge said the court had to consider the appeal on three issues, environmental impact assessment (EIA) compliance, human rights obligations and compliance with climate change legislation.

Regarding EIA compliance, she said the High Court judge had “erred” in his analysis.

Keegan turned to consider the challenge on human rights grounds.

A number of people will lose land by the decision to turn the A5 into a dual carriageway due to vesting.

She said: “We find the argument based upon human rights to be unconvincing.

“The judge went too far and made assumptions he should not have made.”

The Appeal Court then turned to whether the proposed road project breached the obligations of the Climate Change Act passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

She said the A5 project was “larger than any road project ever undertaken in Northern Ireland” and “inevitably this issue intersects with the Climate Change Act”.

Dame Siobhan said: “We are satisfied that the legal obligations created by the 2022 Act to achieve net-zero by 2050 is not a prohibition upon the authorisation for a new road where it has been assessed, as far as possible, to be consistent with emissions reduction obligations.”

She said the High Court judge was “plainly wrong” to analyse a Climate Action Plan (CAP), an environmental strategy document produced by Daera.

She said: “He made an assessment that we consider was wrong, that there was insufficient evidence to satisfy climate obligations in the CAP because there was no specific mention of the A5.

“Properly analysed, this was a treacherous route for the judge to take without the benefit of submissions.”

The judge said the court agreed with DfI submissions that the A5 project did not need to be specifically mentioned in the CAP.

She said: “That would stymie all major developments in Northern Ireland.”

Keegan said the only function of the court was to decide if the process taken by the decision-maker was lawful.

She added: “We are satisfied the DfI has, in making the decision to proceed with the A5 Western Transport Corridor, performed its function in a manner consistent with the obligations set out in the Act.”

She said: “We allow the appeal and we set aside the order of the High Court quashing the decision to proceed with the A5 first phase on all grounds.

“We consider that the judge was wrong in his approach and the outcomes he reached in relation to the issues.”

A scheme to turn the road into a dual carriageway was first approved by the Executive in 2007, but it has been held up by legal challenges and uncertainty over funding ever since.

The Irish government has pledged more than €600 million towards the project.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin welcomed the court’s decision today, saying, “too many lives have been lost in tragic circumstances along the A5 over the years”.

There have been more than 50 deaths on the A5, which links Derry with Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone, since 2006.

“An upgraded road to the North-West will not only improve road safety but also bring economic and social benefits to people living along its route in Tyrone and Derry and in connecting counties such as Monaghan, and Donegal in particular,” Martin said. 

Sinn Féin TDs for Monaghan, Matt Carthy and Cathy Bennett, also welcomed the ruling. 

Carthy said there would be “a huge relief to everyone who has endured delays on the unsafe A5″.

Carthy also said the judgment “must now also prompt the Irish government to immediately fast-track the two outstanding N2 schemes” from Ardee to Castleblayney and from Clontibret to the border.

Bennett said that communities in Monaghan and across the border region “have waited far too long for these road schemes to commence”.

“We have waited long enough,” she said. 

With reporting from David Mac Redmond