'Effective judicial protection' and the environmental impact assessment directive in Ireland

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with enforcement of the Environmental Impact Assessment directive (the EIA directive) in Ireland. The underlying research question is the extent to which the Irish courts provide "effective judicial protection" for the procedural rights conferred by the directive. The thesis beings by explaining the importance of effective local enforcement of Community environmental law (chapter 1). The main provisions of the EIA directive are examined in chapter 2, with particular attention devoted to exploring the rationale underlying public participation in environmental decision-making. Forthcoming amendments to the directive, in light of the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, are explained and their likely impact in practice is assessed. The concept of "effective judicial protection" developed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is considered in chapter 3. The next chapter analyses the ECJ case law on the EIA directive. Particular attention is directed at the case law in which the Court has considered the role of the directive in judicial review proceedings before the national courts. Chapter 5 is the focal point of the thesis. It presents a detailed analysis of the Irish case law on the EIA directive to date. Chapter 6 builds on this analysis and considers the extent to which the procedural rules that apply to judicial review of planning and environmental decision-making involving the EIA directive are compatible with the principle of “effective judicial protection” developed by the ECJ and with the access o to justice provisions of the Arhus Convention. The overall findings of the research project are presented in Chapter 7. This chapter also incorporates a number of specific proposals aimed at enhancing access to environmental justice in Ireland.