Environmentalists hailed a “victory for bees” yesterday after the European Union voted for a ban on the nerve–agent pesticides blamed for the dramatic decline global bee populations. Despite fierce lobbying by the chemicals industry and opposition by countries including Britain, 15 of the 27 member states voted for a two–year restriction on neonicotinoid insecticides. That gave the European Commission the support it needed to push through an EU–wide ban on using three neonicotinoids on crops attractive to bees.

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 High Court judge has said he is minded to quash the regional development minister’s decision to proceed with the A5 dual carriageway. The A5 scheme forms part of a proposed key cross–border business route linking Dublin and north west Northern Ireland. Mr Justice Stephens said the Department of Regional Development should have carried out a Habitats Directive assessment but had not done so. The court will sit again on 20 March.

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The fact–finding mission this coming September is a response to complaints in relation to Aughinish Alumina plant and plans for a liquefied natural gas terminal.

A DELEGATION FROM the European Parliament will travel to Ireland later this year on a “fact–finding visit” investigating environmental complaints relating to industry on the Shannon estuary.

The September trip has been prompted by complaints by local people in relation to the Aughinish Alumina plant in Askeaton, Co Limerick and to the proposed Shannon LNG facility in Tarbert, Co Kerry.

Local farmers first complained to the parliament’s Petitions Committee in 2006 that the Irish authorities had not taken appropriate action to protect the environment from pollution from the Aughinish Alumina plant, owned by Russian aluminium giant Rusal.

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The EU fines imposed this week are a ‘wake–up call’ for Ireland, according to the west Cork based environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment, which works closely with the Commission on a wide range of environmental issues.

According to FIE Director Tony Lowes, ‘Ireland’s inertia in the relation to EU environmental law has led to the country gaining a reputation as the ‘reluctant jurisdiction’.

‘Although the Commission raised the septic tank issue more than 5 years ago, we are still awaiting any information about the inspection regime to bring an end to the ongoing pollution that is taking place across the country.’

Commenting on the recent announcement of grant aid Tony Lowes said that while the move was to be welcomed, the proposal to make grant aids available must be guaranteed and limited to a reasonable time frame in order to ensure that this too is not ignored through inertia.’

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 Independent MEP Marian Harkin today described herself as “shocked and appalled” by the decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to impose heavy fines on Ireland for breaching EU legislation on wastewater systems. 

Speaking from Brussels, Harkin said the judgement was “shocking from two different perspectives: firstly, it is 19 years since we should have implemented the 1975 Waste Directive and despite repeated warnings and previous Court Cases, we have not taken the necessary steps to comply.

“Secondly I also consider that a €2 million lump sum fine plus daily fines of €12,000 is extortionate on a Member State that is on its knees financially.”

She accused governments of failing to address the issue for a generation.

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 Ireland has been fined €3.5m by the European Court of Justice for failing to comply with environmental law – the first time such penalties have been imposed.

The cases relate to Ireland’s failure to regulate septic tanks, and to correctly transpose an EU Directive on environmental impact assessments.

The court imposed a lump–sum fine of €2m, as well as a daily fine of €12,000 for each day of delay in implementing a court judgment from 2009.This is the first time such penalties have been imposed on Ireland and it is a severe embarrassment to this Government and its predecessors.

The judgment found that human health had been put at risk because discharges from septic tanks had threatened drinking water.The court also ruled that Ireland failed to correctly transpose and apply EU legislation on environmental impact assessment and imposed a fine of €1.5m.

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Heritage body An Taisce has launched a High Court bid to try to overturn the Government’s granting of an oil and gas drilling licence off the coast of Dalkey in Dublin.

An Taisce, which aims to preserve Ireland’s national heritage and environment, claims the Government acted unlawfully by holding that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was required before awarding the licence to Irish–listed company Providence Resources.

An Taisce claims the decision to grant the licence should be quashed as a result.

The licence for an area in the Kish Bank basin allows the company to carry out a number of activities including a seismic study, a well–site survey and to drill an exploration well. The edge of the licence area lies about 10km from Dalkey Island.

[Photo: Ian Lumley, An Taisce Heritage Officer]

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The head of the European Commission’s environment directorate said he was frustrated by poor implementation in a frank and wide–ranging lecture on green laws.

Pressing environmental issues affecting Europe must be addressed through better implementation of existing EU laws according to Karl Falkenberg, director general of the environment directorate.

Implementation will be a major focus on the EU’s seventh environmental action programme, unveiled by the commission on Thursday.

Speaking at the UK Environmental Law Association’s annual Garner lecture on Thursday night, Mr Falkenberg expressed his frustration with the large numbers of infringement cases he is continually bringing against member states for slow, incomplete or lax implementation of EU laws.

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Environmental infringement procedures taken against Ireland by the European Commission have more than halved over the last three years.

In 2010, 32 infringement proceedings were taken against Ireland. At the end of March this year, 14 cases remained open. 

Phil Hogan, the environment minister, said he was determined to reduce the number of infringements even further. Opening the eighth Environment Ireland Conference in Croke Park, Dublin, Mr Hogan said his department had established a dedicated environmental complaints unit to engage actively with the European Commission in reducing the number of environmental infringements against the State. 

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GALWAY Harbour Board has ‘changed tack’ on the way in which it plans to submit its application for the redevelopment of Galway Port.

The ‘new way’, it says, increases the chances of the larger extended port being granted planning permission and decreases the prospects of the project being delayed by complex legal arguments in Europe.

The Harbour Board has confirmed to the Sentinel that it has decided to apply for the port development to be progressed for “Imperative Reasons of Overriding Public Interest (IROPI)” rather than through the ‘traditional’ route it had originally envisaged.

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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to bring national legislation regarding the assessment of the effects of projects on the environment into line with EU rules.

The Commission said that, despite an earlier referral to the ECJ and subsequent ruling in March 2011, Ireland has not ensured the full transposition of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (EIA Directive) into national law. It said Ireland had generally accepted the Court’s findings and had stated its intention to adopt all the necessary legislation to implement the judgment by the end of May 2012 – but had failed to do so.

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MINISTER FOR Defence Alan Shatter demanded an apology in the Dáil from Independent TD Luke “Ming” Flanagan after he made remarks comparing the controversy over raised bogs with Nazi Germany.
Mr Shatter, who described the Roscommon–South Leitrim TD as an “ignorant buffoon”, said that if he was foolish enough to suggest legal difficulties in relation to the bogs replicated what went on in Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, he should “educate” himself and “examine his conscience”.

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It could be the first fine against the Irish Government ever despite its poor record on implementing environmental legislation. The commission also threatens to impose daily fines of €33,000, but the Department of Agriculture and Environment believe the imposition of these fines now looks unlikely due to last minute work done by the departments to ensure compliance with the directive.

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The European Commission said yesterday it believes the Republic and UK are not "fully in line" with those rules and as a result, is referring them to the European Court of Justice (ECG).

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Mucking Flats are aptly named: a strip of muddy shore along the north bank of the Thames river as it oozes into the estuary and out to sea. Even in low January sun, with the tide out, there are only a smattering of redshank on the shiny silt near the seawall, black-headed gulls idling on mud, and a line of black-tailed godwits and curlew silhouetted in the shallow river waters beyond. Mucking flats are not pretty, but they are dramatic: shimmering with light and life – the plants, insects and reptiles which thrive in the rich soils in the salt marsh and abandoned industrial land attract birds in their thousands. It is an important migratory and breeding ground, protected by local and national laws as well as European directives. And when developers threatened the area with a new port and logistics park, ecologists were able to use EU rules to insist the wildlife remain protected.

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The overuse and waste of valuable natural resources is threatening to produce a fresh economic crisis, the European Union's environment chief has warned. Janez Potocnik, the EU commissioner for the environment, linked the current economic crisis gripping the eurozone with potential future crises driven by price spikes in key resources, including energy and raw materials. "It's very difficult to imagine [lifting Europe out of recession] without growth, and very difficult to imagine growth without competitiveness, and very difficult to be competitive without resource efficiency."

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They wanted to see first-hand the scale of the environmental disaster at the former steel-works plant and examine what's being done to manage the 500,000 tonnes of toxic waste dumped there.

It contains mountainous slag heaps - byproducts of the steel-making process - including the deadly carcinogen chromium 6 and a number of heavy metals.

The delegation is in Ireland as part of nationwide fact-finding mission to some of the State's worst environmental sites.

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Failure to protect a special environment area could see Northern Ireland facing huge fines from Europe. A formal complaint to the European Commission alleges there has been a "systematic and deliberate failure" to protect and restore a special habitat in Strangford Lough. It is the second complaint about the same problem in just a few years. It follows assurances by two government departments that they would restore and protect horse mussel beds in the lough. But the organisation making the complaint claims this simply has not happened. Both complaints have been made by the Ulster Wildlife Trust who first drew attention to the plight of the mussels in 2003.

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The meeting's attendees, which are likely to include environment commissioner Janez Potocnik, will hear that intensive turf cutting is still occurring at protected sites despite a government commitment to end such activities. The EU executive is aware of the problem and warned the Irish authorities earlier this year.

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