EU Law

Please note that we do not provide legal advice and nothing on this site should be used as a substitute for advice from qualified professionals.

Friends of the Irish Environment, in accordance with EU Law requiring that the member states must take all steps necessary to ensure a high level of environmental protection, provide two lists here.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A TABLE OF CURRENT CASES AGAINST IRELAND AND WHAT STAGE THEY ARE AT.

[updated October 9 2012]. See how close we are to being given daily fines for non–compliance with EU Judgements.

We also provide a searchable list of all the legal environmental cases taken against Ireland. Each case is linked to the Advocate General’s Reasoned Opinion and to the final judgment. There is no appeal against European Court judgments against a member state and they are binding on Irish national law. Once judgment is found against Ireland under Article 226, inadequate response by Ireland may lead to proceedings under Article 228, resulting in lump or daily fines. [The Lisbon Treaty has somewhat streamlined this time consuming procedure.]

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL LIST OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL CASES TAKEN AGAINST IRELAND

Further links that may be of use are:

“Do the Chickens Come Home to Roost”: An analysis of the effectiveness of some of the judgments against Ireland presented by Tony Lowes to the University College Cork European Law Conference in April 2011.

Key environmental directives

European Union environmental action page.

Access To all European Law including case law .

Simple Search of European Law .

Good Background Reading:

The EU’s 2006 ‘Nature And Biodiversity Cases –
Ruling Of The European Court Of Justice‘

The ABC of Community Law by Dr Klaus–Dieter Borchardt. The purpose of this publication is to explain the European legal order to EU Community citizens. It is addressed primarily to non–lawyers and tries to describe the Treaties in terms intelligible to the layman.

NOTE:

ACCESS TO JUSTICE – THE AARHUS CONVENTION

Ireland is the only EU Country not to have ratified the The Aarhus convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision–making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters. The world’s most far–reaching treaty on environmental rights seeks to promote greater transparency and accountability among government bodies by guaranteeing public rights of access to environmental information and providing for public involvement in environmental decision–making requiring the establishment of procedures enabling the public to challenge environmental decisions.

It creates a means by which citizens from across the entire region can enforce their rights to protect and enhance the environment. Implementation of the EU Directive on Access to Justice based on this convention has been further delayed in Ireland by a 2007 Government decision which divided consents systems formerly with the Department of Communications, Marine, and Natural Resources between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment. The Convention has been given judicial recognition in the Environmental Miscellanious Provisions Bill 2011.

[This page last updated 9 February 2012]