Environmental Law

A public consultation has been launched ahead of a wide-ranging review of Irish wildlife legislation. The upcoming review will include the Wildlife Act 1976, the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000, the European Communities (Birds and Natural Habitats) Regulations 2011 and related regulations.

Tughans lawyer Maria O'Loan writes on the significance of a major environmental judgment from the Northern Ireland courts, in which she led the legal team advising the successful appellants. The Court of Appeal’s decision in Re No Gas Caverns and Friends of the Earth’s application has im

Environmental campaigners in Northern Ireland have succeeded in overturning a High Court ruling which paved the way for controversial plans to construct gas caverns under the seabed at Larne Lough. The Court of Appeal yesterday ruled in favour of Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland and community g

The EU Nature Restoration Law (NRL) has received final approval and will become law within weeks after a last-minute breakthrough. The first-of-its-kind regulation on nature restoration aims to put measures in place to restore at least 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and al

Ministers have approved plans to streamline the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) licencing system, including by providing definite timeframes for licencing decisions. The Environmental Protection (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 will also provide more options for the EPA to efficiently regu

The High Court has determined that An Bord Pleanála failed to properly consider the potential impact of a school floodlighting development on the conservation objectives of the nearby Bellanagare Bog Special Protection Area for the restoration of the Greenland white-fronted goose. Delivering

A private member's bill on the protection of hedgerows, drawn up with the help of the Climate Bar Association, has been introduced to the Dáil. The Protection of Hedgerows Bill 2024 was drafted by the Hedgerows Legislation Project, a working group of Comhshaol, the Climate Bar Association, an

Limerick City and County Council has failed to justify its refusal to disclose information about potential lobbying by a property developer, the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI) has ruled. Environmental Trust Ireland requested information from Limerick City and County

Company directors should consider their company's nature-related risks as part of their legal duties under the law of England and Wales, a legal opinion commissioned by Pollination Law and the Commonwealth Climate and Law Initiative (CCLI) has found. Authored by a team of five barristers led by Shar

A landmark legal challenge relating to the regulation of diesel car emissions in Northern Ireland returned to the High Court today for the first time since the return of devolved government. Friends of the Earth Northern Ireland, represented by The Public Interest Litigation Support (PILS) Project a

A dispute over the Mullaghglass landfill site in Co Antrim is set to become the first environmental case of its kind to be appealed from the Northern Ireland courts to the UK Supreme Court in London. Belfast firm Phoenix Law is representing Noeleen McAleenon, one of a number of local residents who h

Ireland has been referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to introduce penalties for breaches of EU biodiversity rules. The Invasive Alien Species Regulation, which came into force nearly a decade ago, obliges EU member states to take effective measures to prevent in

A new Planning and Environmental Court with three dedicated judges has been officially launched today in a bid to speed up complex judicial reviews. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys will preside over the court, which has been established as a specialised division within the High Court and has been warml

Newly-commenced legislation requires all public service bodies, including government departments, agencies and local authorities, to integrate biodiversity into their plans, policies and programmes. The Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2023 places a statutory duty on these public bodies to comply with the g

No prosecutions have been brought for felling or damaging protected trees in Northern Ireland since 2019 despite more than 350 complaints. A new report by the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman (NIPSO) finds that while 369 tree protection breaches reported between 2019 and 2022, only one res