Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has removed the legal barrier that had blocked the proposed upgrade of the A5 between Derry and Aughnacloy. The £1.7 billion project, which has faced legal challenges and delays, can now move towards construction, although the ruling follows a dispute over the scheme’s compliance with climate change targets.
Appeal restores route to construction
A panel of Appeal Court judges in Belfast, led by Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan, quashed a previous High Court ruling on Tuesday. The High Court had found that the Department for Infrastructure’s plans did not comply with climate change targets after a legal challenge from a group including residents, farmers and landowners. The department appealed. Keegan said the High Court judge had been wrong in his approach and in the outcomes reached on four main grounds, including human rights and climate change. Stormont Infrastructure minister Liz Kimmins said construction should begin as soon as possible, while Taoiseach Micheál Martin said €600 million pledged through the Shared Island initiative remained in place.
What the legal process means for delivery
The case illustrates how a challenge to the approval of a public infrastructure scheme can interrupt delivery before work begins. Here, the High Court decision blocked the A5 plans; the Department for Infrastructure then used an appeal to seek a different ruling. The Court of Appeal’s decision removes that specific obstacle, but it is not itself a construction contract or a record that works have started. That distinction matters to public buyers and suppliers: a successful appeal can restore an authority’s ability to proceed with an approved scheme, while the project still has to move through its delivery arrangements. The Alternative A5 Alliance, an umbrella body of landowners, farmers and supporters opposed to the road, said its clients would carefully consider the judgment.
Safety campaigners welcome the decision
The A5 is part of the main route between Dublin and the northwest, and the proposed 58-mile, or 94-kilometre, scheme would be the North’s largest ever road project. The source article reports more than 50 fatalities on the A5 since 2006, including 10 deaths in one year. Former Tyrone footballer Kevin Hughes, whose brother Paul was killed on the adjoining A4 in 1997 and whose sister Helen died near the same spot in 2001, said the ruling would bring “large relief” to bereaved families. Hughes backed the Enough is Enough campaign in Co Tyrone. Its representative Niall McKenna said the campaign was about saving lives rather than winning court cases, and that the decision was not a time for celebration.
| Fact | Source detail |
|---|---|
| Project value | £1.7 billion (€2 billion) |
| Route | Between Derry and Aughnacloy in Co Tyrone |
| Proposed length | 58 miles (94 kms) |
| Shared Island funding | €600 million pledged towards the project |
| Reported A5 fatalities | More than 50 since 2006 |
| Court decision | Court of Appeal in Belfast quashed the previous ruling |
| Approval history | Approved by the Stormont Executive almost 20 years ago |
The Court of Appeal’s decision removes that specific obstacle, but it is not itself a construction contract or a record that works have started.
WHY IT MATTERS
The ruling shows how litigation over climate obligations and human rights can delay a major public road scheme, and how an appeal can reopen the route to delivery without itself completing the procurement or construction process.
Reported from irishtimes.com, 2026-10-06. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
