{"id":519815,"date":"2026-06-05T08:45:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:45:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/519815\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:45:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T08:45:12","slug":"lidls-claims-of-planning-system-exploitation-factually-inaccurate-says-competitor-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/519815\/","title":{"rendered":"Lidl\u2019s claims of planning system exploitation \u2018factually inaccurate\u2019, says competitor \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claims from supermarket chain Lidl<\/a> that a rival is exploiting the planning system<\/a> by initiating spurious objections to its plans for new outlets have been described as \u201cfactually inaccurate\u201d by one of its competitors. <\/p>\n

The German retailer urged the Government in a private letter to introduce reforms to remove \u201cbottlenecks\u201d, similar to Government measures that speed up large public infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent to the Minister for Housing and Local Government James Browne<\/a> last January, Lidl Ireland chief executive Robert Ryan said: \u201cWe find that the current system is exploited, sometimes for anticompetitive purposes through spurious objections, which needlessly extend the development life cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan said Lidl was facing two judicial review actions in the courts challenging plans for new stores in Galway<\/a> that had been approved by An Coimisi\u00fan Plean\u00e1la<\/a>. He pointed out that these challenges were being taken by a rival retailer.<\/p>\n

McInerney\u2019s SuperValu<\/a> in Loughrea filed a judicial review with the High Court in July last year. It said the proposed development in the town represented \u201coverdevelopment\u201d, which would have a \u201cmaterial negative impact on surrounding properties\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also raised concerns about local retail and traffic implications, and said the development would \u201cseriously impact the vitality and viability\u201d of the town.<\/p>\n

Michael McInerney, owner of McInerney\u2019s SuperValu Loughrea, said they had been granted leave by the High Court and this would not have happened unless there was \u201clegitimate legal argument\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur expert advice is that what they\u2019ve [Lidl] applied for contravenes current planning laws,\u201d said McInerney. \u201cHow can they say we\u2019re spuriously working the system? If anyone is doing it, it\u2019s them.\u201d<\/p>\n

McInerney, whose outlet was set up in 1891 by his great-grandfather, also said they were \u201cnot afraid\u201d of competition.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Twenty-nine houses built without planning permission must be removed, High Court rulesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In his letter to the minister, Ryan said the judicial review actions \u201cdeliberately exploit a legislative loophole\u201d in the current planning laws, enabling \u201canticompetitive challenges which significantly delay and jeopardise important local developments\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe inability to gain certainty and timely final permission for commercially zoned land is stifling competition, slowing job creation and delaying necessary community investment,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese delays directly negatively impact local communities by denying them the benefits that new Lidl stores bring to the communities in which we operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is understood the Minister did not meet Lidl on foot of the letter.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Thursday, Ryan said Lidl would always welcome the opportunity to discuss amendments to the planning system with key government stakeholders and \u201chope to have the opportunity to discuss this directly in due course\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt Lidl, we welcome any proposals that would reduce spurious or anti-competitive objections which needlessly extend the planning process and block private commercial and retail development,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Claims from supermarket chain Lidl that a rival is exploiting the planning system by initiating spurious objections to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[7928,79,18,1878,19,17,4770,19267,3525,19266],"class_list":["post-519815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-an-coimisiun-pleanala","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-galway","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-james-browne","tag-lidl","tag-planning-permission","tag-supervalu"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116696627683282409","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}