Debate contribution: A5 Western Transport Corridor: High Court Ruling

Debate contribution by Ms Liz Kimmins on 24 June 2025.

MLA

Ms Liz Kimmins

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

24 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Question for Urgent Oral Answer

Heading

A5 Western Transport Corridor: High Court Ruling

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5047013

Read the official Assembly record

Text

It is clear that the SDLP has the ability to analyse in full a judgement as detailed as that in less than 24 hours. It sounds as though it has all the solutions. I am committed to ensuring that we have a clear understanding of what the judgement means. That will take time. We have to examine it thoroughly. This is a space in which nobody in the House has been before, as a result of relatively new legislation. My priority is the families and to ensure that we save lives. I do not think that the situation is insurmountable; I think that we can find solutions. I have been engaging with officials. We will ensure that we get a clear report on what the judgement means and on what the options are in moving forward. That is what I am determined to do and will do.

Absolutely. I thank the Member for reflecting on the unimaginable grief of those families, who continue to campaign strongly on the issue to save other families from the heartbreak that they have experienced. I cannot begin to imagine the grief that they experience every day. I am determined to continue to work as hard as I can to ensure that we deliver. It is too critical: that is important to remember. I will work with everybody. I have just come out of a meeting with the A5/N2 cross-border group, on which five councils have come together. It was a good meeting. We talked about how we can continue to work together. I commend that group for the huge amount of work that it has done. It has stuck together and worked really hard. I will continue to work with all parties that are willing to work constructively and positively to ensure that we get the job done.

As I said, we are working through the judgement and what it means. My officials and the legal team are considering that very thoroughly. I hope to have a briefing on it later this week. We will then be able to identify the next steps. A number of options are being considered, so, at this point in time, everything is on the table so that we identify not just the quickest route to where we need to get to but the route that will give us a successful outcome. That is what I continue to do. As we progress through that, I will continue to keep the House updated.

The judge indicated that the decision and the subsequent orders will all be quashed as a result of yesterday's ruling, so, once that is all in place, those lands will be returned to the landowners from whom they were vested. Officials will write to all the landowners in the coming days, setting out how the Department plans to manage the process of returning the vested lands.

That is a very important point because every delay costs lives and not just money, and a price cannot be put on people's lives. Since coming into the role, I have consistently emphasised that any delays to the delivery of the project will just prolong the pain, and we need to ensure that there are no further delays. As many will know, the scheme first got the go-ahead in July 2007 from both the Executive and the Irish Government at a plenary meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council. Since then, it has been fraught with challenges. I note that, yesterday, the representatives of the challengers described the campaign against the scheme as a "16-year crusade". Over the 18 years, the costs have risen, but, more important, more than 50 people have lost their life. They were mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and friends, and that can never be forgotten, which is why I am determined to get the road built. For the people who have been impacted in that way, it is not a crusade; their aim is to ensure that no one else experiences the heartbreak that they have.

As I have said, we still need to understand exactly what the ruling will mean and what the implications are, and that is not just for my Department. All Ministers will have to consider the implications for all their projects, but it is too early to make any calls before we have a clear and thorough understanding of what the ruling means. The ruling is complex and detailed, and it is important for us to have a clear analysis of the judge's issues, what it will mean for us all going forward and how we can address those in the short term.

As I said, we are still considering the ruling. We need to look at all of that in the round in addition to what has been provided. The judge gave a detailed summary that lasted almost two and a half hours, and that was a lot of information for anyone who was there to take in. A huge amount of work has gone into the overall legal case and the court proceeding. We will look at all of that to see what needs to happen and where we can go next.

The Climate Change Act received cross-party support in 2022.

There was cross-party support. It was not just Sinn Féin. We remain committed to that. We will look at it all in the round and see what it means going forward.

There has been cross-departmental working on the legal case because the evidence came from the impacted Departments. I have a meeting with Minister Muir this afternoon, and already, we are continuing to work together to see how we move forward to deliver the project.

I think that some —.

I reiterate that we need to think of the people who have been affected and remember the families who are at the forefront of this. There are lots of reasons why the project has been delayed for many years. The main reasons have been objections and legal challenges. As I have said, it is just over 24 hours since the judgement was made. It is very detailed and complex, and it is important that we consider that judgement in full before making any assumptions about what is required. As I have said, this is an Executive flagship project. The decision was brought to the Executive so that all Departments would be on the same page. It is important to say that, out of seven grounds for challenge, only three were upheld. Hundreds of pages of scientific and environmental evidence and mitigations were involved in that decision. In fact, the judge ruled that Tully Bog, which is a special area of conservation (SAC), would be better off with the road than without it. It is very important to outline that. As I said earlier, the judge said that a new and safer A5 should be built so that no more people have to be lost. That will be my focus. We can hark to the past all that we want, but we need to ensure that we deal with what is happening now, how to get past that and how to get the road delivered.

There was significant engagement with landowners. That is a fact. The lands were vested, so, at the time of the preparatory works, the land was owned by the Department. I want to continue with that engagement. As I said, over the coming days and weeks, we will write to all the affected landowners to agree a way forward. That process will follow.

1,256 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:53 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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