Ireland's imposition of fees of up to €45 to express a third-party interest in planning issues has been upheld by the advocate general of the European Court of Justice.
The decision, formally an "opinion" of advocate Christine Stix-Hackl, is not a final decision of the court, but would normally be expected to be endorsed by its final decision in a few months.
It represents a setback for environmental campaigners and Opposition politicians who had argued that fees were an obstacle to an individual's right to make observations and object to planning decisions.
However, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, while welcoming the advocate's decision, said he was nevertheless prepared to review the charges at a later date.
The planning fees imposed by Ireland are €20 for planning observations and €45 for appeals.
The case against the fees was taken by the European Commission on foot of a complaint by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) on behalf of 68 community and environmental groups in 2000.
The European Commission opened correspondence with the Government before issuing a final warning in July 2003 and referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice in May 2005.
The commission's case referred specifically to planning applications that require an environmental impact assessment, of which there were 264 during 2004.
Yesterday's opinion was described as "a bad precedent across Europe" by FIE, which said that although it was only an opinion, there was "now an 80 per cent certainty of losing the challenge".
The organisation predicted that similar charges would now be introduced across Europe.
The decision was also regretted by Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe, who said it was "disappointing".
The Labour Party MEP, Proinsias de Rossa, said the charges should be abolished regardless of the final outcome of the European court case.
In her opinion, advocate Ms Stix-Hackl said the fees were not high enough to dissuade the average Irish person from submitting observations during the planning process.
She also dismissed the commission's argument that introducing fees was contrary to the spirit of the EU directive harmonising European law on planning submissions that include environmental impact statements.
A third complaint by the commission about the legal method used by Irish Ministers to set the fee - by regulation - was also rejected.
The Minister, Mr Roche, welcomed the decision, saying he believed the €20 fee was "not a major barrier".
But he announced he "would be discussing the matter further with the Attorney General in advance of a final ruling by the European Court of Justice which is expected some time later in the year".
Observers said they thought Mr Roche may amend or drop the €45 charge.