State urged to consider environment ombudsman

An office of an environmental ombudsman should be considered by the Government given the number of people who feel they have not got "environmental justice" in Ireland, the EU Commissioner, Ms Margot Wallström, has suggested.

Ms Wallström is likely to raise the issue when she meets the new Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, for the first time on Monday.

The commissioner, who earlier this year met Government and non-governmental environment agencies here, said the European Commission received a higher number of complaints from Ireland than from any other EU state.

The complaints were made by Irish residents against the authorities here.

In a report of her last visit, seen by The Irish Times, Ms Wallström said the two issues raised "over and over during my discussions were access to environmental justice and waste management".

While she recognised "considerable opposition" to landfill or incineration in Ireland, she pointed out that the goal of a zero-waste option was one which "we will not get to overnight".

While speaking of the necessity to enforce legislation on the environment at a national level, Ms Wallström said that "one idea which we should explore further is the scope for the creation of an ombudsman office in each member state to which citizens can turn when they believe that European environmental law is being breached".