Re: Implementation in Ireland of Habitats Directive: protocols for scientific opinion

Dear Jean-Francois;

I am sorry to write to you again in relation to issues that we are having here in Ireland implementing European environment law.

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We have appealed to the EU Agricultural Commissioner Dacian Ciolos to refuse Ireland's request to increase the rate on the grounds that the proposal undermines the Minister for Agriculture's assurance that the intensification of agricultural to meet ambitious 2020 production targets can be done sustainably.

Basing payments on stocking rates rather than areas farmed is biased against the smaller less intensive farmer who protect the environment and is against the proposal to reform CAP payments post 2013.

High stocking rates have led in the past to a host of environmental problems, including erosion, eutrophication, soil degradation, and increased carbon emissions. This damage was confirmed by the European Court of Justice in 2002 in a judgement against Ireland.

See the letter to the Commissioner |  Read the Press Release

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 The clear identification of contaminated waste at the site of the steelworks which was revealed in the consultants White Young Green Report in 2005 was redacted from their subsequent 2008 Report on which the authorities are basing the licence application. Any licensce application must address the contaminated waste on the entire 20 hectare site to ensure the safety of the public and the environment.

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The European Commission has responded to our complaint over the decision of the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Agriculture to extend the 2011 slurry spreading season for two weeks beyond the Irish Regulations, which requires an end to slurry spreading by October 15th every year.

This had been specifically forbidden in January 2011 by the European Commission for the Environment, J. Potocnik.

Adding weight to the complaint, we cite the recent EPA 2010 water data monitoring figures which show an increase in exceedences of the nitrate parametric value from 16 supplies in 2009 to 19 supplies in 2010. The population affected by nitrate exceedences increased more than 4 fold. Ireland now has the highest rate in Europe of two of the diseases caused by slurry in drinking water, cryptosporidium and STEC [e.coli].

During FIE's recent Petition to the European Parliament, Danish MEP Margrete Auken told the EU Petitions Committee that 'you get the feeling that we have the EU at the moon or somewhere and what is going on in Ireland doesn't bother anybody outside.'

PRESS RELEASE     |        READ THE COMPLAINT

See panel below for documentation

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FIE PRESS RELEASE
12 DECEMBER 2011

EU TO INVESTIGATE EXTENSION OF IRISH SLURRY SPREADING SEASON
DECISION IGNORED EU COMMISSIONER RULING

The European Commission has informed Friends of the Irish Environment that they are to investigate the decision of the Minister for the Environment and the Minister for Agriculture to extend the 2011 slurry spreading season for two weeks beyond the Irish Regulations, which requires an end to slurry spreading by October 15th every year. Slurry spreading is associated with nitrate contamination and water born diseases.

The investigation has been sparked by a complaint from Friends of the Irish Environment, which referred to a statement from the European Commission in January of 2011 in reply to Marian Harkin, MEP, absolutely forbidding such extensions:

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The Petition seeks the Commissions assistance in ending not only the turf cutting taking place on special areas of conservation, but also the unlicensed and unregulated industrial extraction which is continuing across the midlands. FIE is making a formal request for the Petitions Committee to come to Ireland on a fact-finding mission. ‘If Committee members see first-hand what is happening, we believe they will be strongly motivated to act.'

SEE FIE'S PRESENTATION TO THE COMMITTEE AS RECORDED LIVE

Read the Speaking Notes   |   See The Petition itself   |  And the supplementary report on turf cutting in protected sites with photographs

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FIE has provided the Commission with two detailed reports over the past 18 months, one on the widespread industrial extraction from unprotected raised bogs in the midlands and the other on continued cutting on the country's most protected bogs.

In an unprecedented move, the Commission has questioned Ireland's ‘loyal cooperation', one of the most serious charges that can be levelled against a member state.

A previous judgment against Ireland in 1999 led to a request to the Court for daily fines, a action withdrawn in 2005 after undertakings were given by Ireland to protect its bogs. One operation cited in the 1999 ECJ judgement against Ireland for failure to assess its impact continues operation to this day still without an assessment - 12 years later.

‘The level of mechanical destruction we have recorded is savage', a spokesman for the group said. ‘Even our own members were shocked at the scale of what is going on'.

Press Release     |     Petition to the European Parliament     |    Report on industrial extraction on raised midlands bog   |   Report of peat extraction in protected raised bogs

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Ireland has failed to adopt new legislation to protect the countryside in spite of repeated warnings and comprehensive dossiers supplied to them by this organisation and others documenting the variety and pace of destructions.

While on the one hand advertising and relying on Ireland's landscape and cultural heritage to support a Green image and international tourism, the authorities have done nothing to stop the disfiguring of protected landscapes by bungalow blight, the loss of wetlands to farm ‘improvements', and the destruction of countless archaeological sites - especially ringforts - across the country.

Only last week FIE was informed it was too late to amend the proposed National Monuments Bill to ensure that landowners knew what they were responsible for. The move follows a new warning last week to Ireland over continuing turf cutting in protected raised bogs.

Read the Commissions Press Release | Read our Press Release

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• Notifying landowners of national monuments on their lands.

• Strengthening the forthcoming designation process for Natural Heritage Areas by the inclusion of Notifiable Actions in the notification to Landowners - to these ensure landowners know what they are supposed to protect.

• Stronger statutory standing for the Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition [GAEC] SMRs 1 and SMR 5 covering the conservation of wild birds and the conservation of natural habitats and wild flora and fauna, wherever they occur - administered already as part of the EU Area Aid.

• An increase in the current level of inspections for these Conditions from 1% to 5% to be undertaken jointly with the Department of the Environment, as well as ensuring that complaints from members of the public are addressed through a open and transparent process with statutory standing.

Read the submission

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A spokesman for Friends of the Irish Environment said that ‘the practice of the EPA in allowing operators to continue unlicensed activities while they consider a license application meant that for 5 years ISPAT operated there with government grants, no licensce, and no planning permission.'

‘Only last week in a written Parliamentary reply to Independent Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan, the Minister for the Environment claimed to the Deputy that he was powerless to intervene in cases where the EPA continues to allow unlicensed operators to continue work while a license is under consideration.

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‘Citizens do not expect that biodiversity, soils, and water will be damaged by adverse management practices such as the burning of scrub, removal of field boundaries and inadequate riparian buffer zones which support many native species of flora and fauna', they write.

The removal of scrub by burning is particularly damaging - and voluntary schemes are not sufficient to address these issues which must be incorporated into Area Aid conditions.

Read the (short) submission

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Expensive and often unaffordable undertakings as to costs requiring large deposits is also a ‘serious impediment to the use of such injunctions, which are essential for temporarily halting operations that may have a potentially damaging impact on the environment while their legality is being assessed.'

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A spokesman for the environmental lobby group Friends of the Irish Environment said that ‘While we understand many of the cases highlighted by the Commission today are being addressed in amendments to the Planning legislation, fundamental changes to the Irish justice system are also now required.

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AN BORD SNIP: CUTS TO ENVIRONMENT FACE DANGER OF FINES

Ireland will inevitably face daily fines from the European Court of Justice if cuts are imposed on environmental funding.

The stark warning came from Friends of the Irish Environment, an environmental lobby group that specialises in European environmental law. The group has provided the Commission with a number of dossiers since 1997.

Director Tony Lowes said that ‘Ireland now faces 8 cases in which the original court judgment has not been addressed and the European Commission has notified Ireland that it is returning to Court to seek fines for non-compliance.'

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As the Minister for the Environment confirms that the European Commission has sent Ireland a Letter of Formal Notice over the unlicensed storage of waste at the site of the former steelworks at Haulbowline Island, County Cork, we publish statistics that show the Minister has not made good on his promise to ensure improved compliance with European Law.

Ireland's record before the EU Court has shown no improvement in the period 2008 - 2009. Ireland is currently subject to 28 environmental infringement proceedings, including 5 which are returning to Court after a Judgment against the State to seek penalties for non-compliance with that Judgment.

Nowhere is the Government's failure more clear than in their handling of the 9 hectares of waste assigned to the Minsiter for the Environment in 2003.

If this waste was being held by any other party than the State, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Local Authority would be the first in Court to require the holder to apply for a license. Instead, nothing has been done, month after month, year after year. Six years of reports and delays - as the toxic residue seeps into the harbour and blows in the wind.

Read the Press Release   |   See the statistics   |  Today's Irish Examiner

Read our Report on the 'Toxic Island'

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Friends of the Irish Environment are seeking to have Ireland brought before the European Court of Justice for the unlicensed storage of hazardous waste at Haulbowline Ireland. Having written without success to four Ministers, FIE is bringing an Infringement Complaint under the terms of the EU Court Judgment of 2005 [Case C-494/01]. This Judgment established a systemic failure of Ireland ‘to meet the obligations to take the requisite measures to ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health and without harming the environment’.

‘Because of the nature of this Judgment against Ireland, we understand that the Commission will be able to act rapidly to ensure that the holders of the waste at Haulbowline Island will confirm with the European Directive and be subject to the required licensing procedures.'

  EU Infringement Complaint   |  Toxic Island:The Story of Haulbowline Island

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Julio GARCIA BURGUES
Directorate A: Communication, Legal Affairs & Civil Protection
A2. Infringements
European Commission
200 Rue de La Loi,
B-1049 Brussels,

20 February 2009 Julio.garcia-burgues@ec.europa.eu

Re: Waste Directive 75/442 Infringement: Haulbowline Island County Cork, Ireland

Dear Mr Burgues;

We write to you because of the absence of a waste permit for waste deposited at the site of the former steel works at Haubowline Island, County Cork under European Directive 75/442. This lack of a licence was confirmed by way of a written Parliamentary Question answered by the Minister for the Environment on 17 February 2009.

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In a swinging judgment today, the European Court of Justice has today ruled that Ireland's uniform thresholds for environmental impact assessment of rural projects ‘exceeds member state's discretion'.

The Judgment said that ‘The use of uniform thresholds means that no examination at all is carried out in respect of the environmental effects of projects which are, however, likely to have significant effects.'

The effect of the judgment will be to greatly strengthen the requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out by land owners or occupiers on any developments that may impact on the environment, regardless of the scale.

The judgment also rejected the Irish threshold for EIAs of 20 hectares for water management projects for agriculture, including wetlands, irrigation and land drainage projects, and the threshold for fish farms. Read our Press Release.

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FIE is publishing for the first time the Circular Letters issued by An Bord Pleanala in response to the EU Court Judgment of 3 July, 2008 striking at the heart of Ireland's ‘build first and apply later' retention culture.

The second Circular letter, issued on the 8th of this month states: 'It is understood that some planning authorities may have incorrectly taken the view that they must comply with and operate the relevant planning legislation as it currently stands, and therefore have continued to make decisions [after July 3 2008] on EIA/Retention applications. The case law of the European Court of Justice makes it clear that administrative bodies such as planning authorities and An Bord Plenala, being emanations of the state, are bound to comply with Community law and if necessary to disapply national law."

It is not surprising that these letters have not yet been published. It is revolutionary to admit that when Irish law conflicts with EU law we must disallow Irish law - and more so as this is the first example of European environmental law being implemented in Ireland WITHOUT legislation to authorize it. By the way, which planning authorities have made what decisions which must now be declared invalid?

Read Circular Letters PD 5/08 & 6/08

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