Key aspects of Irish environmental legislation do not conform with EU directives, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice, Mr Antonio La Pergola, has decided.
In his non-binding opinion to the Luxembourg EU court, Mr La Pergola accepted evidence from the Commission of significant damage to the Burren, to some 60,000 hectares of land overgrazed by sheep, and of potentially irreversible damage to bogs and waterways through conifer afforestation, particularly Dunragh Loughs and Pettigo Plateau.
The Commission, which took the case for non-transposition of EU legislation into domestic law, contended that the Government abused its discretion in setting excessively liberal and high acreage thresholds under which environmental impact studies were not required when land-use changes were proposed.
The effect, the Commission argued, was to take no account of special circumstances in areas such as the Burren or of the cumulative effect of multiple small developments on an area.
The advocate general agreed and also ruled that sheep grazing is an intensive form of farming with a significant impact on the environment. The Government therefore had an obligation to provide for studies of its impact where substantial acreages were affected. He accepted scientific evidence of the detrimental effects on the environment of afforestation of peatlands was considerable as was evidence of the effects of mechanised peat extraction on natural ecosystems.
"Such operations may constitute - according to the Commission and I see no reason to disagree - one of the most serious threats to the integrity of the environment, particularly in the case of the peatlands at issue," he said. If, as is usual, the opinion is upheld by the full court, the Government will be required to tighten significantly requirements for environmental impact assessments across a wide range of landuse changes. Costs were awarded against Ireland.
Coillte Teoranta is a state body under the meaning of EU legislation and therefore subject to EU public procurement rules, the European Court of Justice found yesterday. The EU court ruled against the Government in a case arising from a complaint from Connemara Machine Turf Co Ltd that Coillte failed in its obligation to advertise for tenders for a contract through the EU's Official Journal.
