The Supreme Court yesterday fixed dates for later this month for hearings to determine the constitutionality of two Government Bills which were referred to it last week by the President, Mrs McAleese.
The five-judge court yesterday set July 24th and 25th for the hearing in relation to part of the Planning and Development Bill 1999. That Bill originally proposed that 20 per cent of all development land be handed over to local councils for social and affordable housing. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, later amended the Bill to allow councils to buy up to 20 per cent of housing developments for council or low mortgage houses.
The hearing in relation to parts of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Bill 1999 was fixed for July 27th and 28th. Under its terms, asylum-seekers must notify the authorities within 14 days if they are seeking a judicial review after their application for refugee status is turned down. Civil liberty groups have objected to the time limit, pointing out that citizens have considerably longer to take judicial review proceedings.