• Law and the Environment 2014 – UCC, Thursday, 3 April 2014

    The theme of this year’s Law & the Environment conference is “Integrated Approaches to Environmental Law and Regulation”.

    The final plenary session of the conference will examine the theme:

    “Access to Environmental Justice: Innovation & Impact”.  

    This session is funded by a grant from the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government.

    The contributors in this plenary session are:

    Professor Richard Macrory, Faculty of Law, University College London

    Fiona Marshall, Aarhus Convention Secretariat, UNECE

    Áine Ryall, Faculty of Law, UCC.

    Full conference programme here:  http://www.ucc.ie/en/media/academic/law/events/BrochureLawtheEnvironment2014.pdf

     

     

  • Amendment to text of Ireland’s Aarhus National Implementation Report 2014

    Ireland Aarhus National Implementation Report 2014

    DECLG today (12/3/14)  announced a ”minor” amendment to the text of the response to Q VIII para 4 (page 10 of NIR):

     http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/AarhusConvention/NationalImplementationReport/

    For comparison purposes, I include here the new text and the original text: 

    NEW TEXT

    While the OCEI is funded through the general government allocation to the Office of the Ombudsman and it is a matter for that Office to allocate the funding to the various bodies under its remit as it deems appropriate, it is acknowledged that the significant economic challenges facing the State arising from the financial crisis have presented significant funding difficulties for all public service organisations, including the Office of the Ombudsman.

    ORIGINAL TEXT

    The OCEI is funded through the general government allocation to the Office of the Ombudsman. It is a matter for that Office to allocate the funding to the various bodies under its remit, as it deems appropriate. It is also open to that Office to apply to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for further funding if required.

    This note compiled by Áine Ryall

    12/3/14

  • Strategic Environmental Assessment: the Irish Experience

    Paper delivered by Áine Ryall at Kingsland Conference II hosted by Francis Taylor Building and the Centre for European Law, King’s College London, 14 February 2014.  Further details: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/law/newsevents/newsrecords/2013-14/sea-kingsland-conference.aspx

    This paper will be published in November 2014 as a chapter in Jones, G and Scotford, E, The Strategic Environmental Assessment Directive: A Plan for Success? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2014) http://www.hartpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781849466332

    Paper Overview:

    SEA – the Irish Experience – Aine Ryall – Paper Overview

     

  • Aarhus Convention & Irish Environmental Law: Key Points & Potential Impact

    Slides from lecture by Aine Ryall at Workshop on Practical Implications of the Aarhus Convention for Lawyers hosted by the Irish Maritime Law Assoc, Coastwatch Ireland and the Environmental Pillar – and funded by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Dublin 4 February 2014

    Title of lecture: Aarhus Convention & Irish Environmental Law: Key Points & Potential Impact

    IMLA and Coastwatch Workshop – Dublin 4.2.14 – Aine Ryall – web version

     

  • Workshop on Aarhus Convention & Implications for Marine Law – 4 February 2014

    Details of this workshop organised by the Irish Maritime Law Association & Coastwatch with the support of the Environmental Pillar here:

    IMLA invitation 4th Feb, 2014- Aarhus lecture

  • Access to Court Decisions & the Aarhus Convention

    Access to Court Decisions and the Aarhus Convention

    Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention governs access to justice in environmental matters.  Essentially, it sets down minimum standards for access to justice including, for example, standing, review procedures and costs.

    Article 9(4) provides, inter alia, that decisions under Article 9 “shall be given or recorded in writing.  Decisions of courts, and whenever possible of other bodies, shall be publicly accessible.”

    It is clear, therefore, that court decisions in cases falling within the scope of Article 9 must be given and recorded “in writing” and these decisions must be “publicly accessible.”

    In many cases, the High Court and the Supreme Court deliver written, reasoned judgments and these judgments are usually published on the Courts Service website: http://www.courts.ie/

    In practice, however, it is not uncommon for courts to deliver ex tempore rulings where no written judgment is prepared, for example the court’s decision on the question of liability for the costs of proceedings.  There is currently considerable interest in the question of costs in environmental matters. This is because special costs rules have been introduced for certain categories of environmental litigation (section 50B Planning and Development Act 2000 as amended and Part 2 Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011) with a view to meeting Aarhus and EU law obligations.  The special costs rules have been interpreted and applied in a number of cases to date and these rulings provide essential guidance as to how the special costs rules are operating in practice.

    Ireland recently submitted its first Aarhus Convention National Implementation Report 2014 to the United Nations.  Preparation of this report involved a public consultation on a draft text.  All submissions received as part of this consultation were published on the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG) website.  The content of the submission from the Department of Justice and Equality raised an important issue regarding the accessibility of certain court decisions.  This submission states, in relevant part (my emphasis):

    “In cases where the court does not deliver a considered, written judgment the decision of the court is recorded in a court order which is available only to the parties to the case.”

    It follows from this unambiguous statement that ex tempore court decisions, where there is no written judgment, are not publicly accessible.

    This state of affairs is a clear breach of the express requirement in Article 9(4) that court decisions in Aarhus cases must be publicly accessible.

    Now that this issue has been highlighted, it is hoped that both the Department of Justice and Equality and the Courts Service will take urgent steps to ensure that all court decisions in Aarhus matters are published on the Courts Service website.

    On a related point, in practice, there can be a considerable delay in some cases between when a judgment is delivered and when it is published on the Courts Service website.  Article 9 does not specify any particular timeframe within which court decisions should be publicly accessible.  If the right of access to decisions is to be effective, however, court decisions should be published promptly.

    Áine Ryall

    24.1.14 

    Selected References:

    Text of Aarhus Convention: http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/env/pp/documents/cep43e.pdf

    DECLG Aarhus Convention web pages: http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/AarhusConvention/

    DECLG, Aarhus Convention National Implementation Report 2014: Ireland (December 2013)http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/Environment/Miscellaneous/FileDownLoad,34986,en.pdf

    Text of Department of Justice and Equality submission: http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/AarhusConvention/PublicConsultations/SubmissionsReceived/FileDownLoad,34989,en.pdf)

     

     

  • Report on ‘Mechanisms and Practices for Establishing or Improving Environmental Courts’

    This is the link to a report on the theme Specific Mechanisms and Practices for Establishing or Improving Environmental Courts which I prepared in my capacity as a consultant to the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme in September 2013: http://www.ecegp.com/english/knowledge/showknoledge.asp?ID=825

    Information on the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme here: http://www.ecegp.com/index_en.asp

  • Paper: ‘Access to Justice in Environmental Matters at the National Level and the Aarhus Convention’

    This is the text of the paper presented by Áine Ryall at a conference on the theme Remedies for Breach of EU Law organised by the Irish Centre for European Law in conjunction with the Association of European Administrative Judges at the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin on 13 September 2013: http://www.icel.ie/events_recent

    Aine Ryall – ICEL & AEAJ paper Dublin 13 September 2013

    A substantially revised and updated version of this paper will be published in (2013) 4 Irish Planning and Environmental Law Journal.

  • Presentations from Enforcing EU Environmental Law Conference now available

    Presentations and materials from the Enforcing EU Environmental Law Conference held at UCC Faculty of Law on 29 November 2013 now available here:

    http://www.ucc.ie/en/lawsite/news/fullstory-381558-en.html

    The conference was made possible by funding from the Department of Environment, Community & Local Government and Department of An Taoiseach Communicating Europe Initiative.

  • Conference: Enforcing EU Environmental Law – 29 November 2013

    Law, Environment and the EU – the Enforcement Challenge

    The Faculty of Law is hosting a major conference on Friday, 29 November 2013 on Enforcing European Union Environmental Law.  

    Contributors include:  Liam Cashman, Directorate General Environment, European Commission; Andrew Jackson, Natural Environment Officer & In-house Counsel An Taisce; Tom Flynn BL; and Margaret Gray BL.  Judge Anthony M Collins of the General Court of the European Union is the conference Chair.  Almost 200 participants are expected, including legal practitioners, Government officials, regulators, public authorities, environmental and planning consultants, NGOs, academics, students and members of the public.

    Organised by Dr Áine Ryall, the conference examines contemporary challenges in EU environmental law enforcement and provides a public forum for informed debate.  At a more general level, it seeks to provide accurate, up to date information for participants on issues relating to enforcement, including the impact of the Aarhus Convention in practice.

    The conference is supported by funding from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and from the Department of An Taoiseach Communicating Europe Initiative.

    There is no charge to attend, but advance registration is essential due to high demand for places.

    Programme and booking details here: http://www.ucc.ie/en/lawsite/news/fullstory-381558-en.html