Ireland: Environmental Law

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that appropriate assessments of plans or projects affecting special protection areas cannot be validly conducted without pre-established site-specific conservation objectives. This landmark judgment addresses whether conservation objectives are a prerequisite for environmental impact assessments under the Habitats Directive, with significant implications for development consent procedures across the EU.

The European Council has formally adopted the Directive on updating the list of pollutants affecting surface water and groundwater.

This morning the Government published its Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan containing a series of actions to accelerate the provision of critical infrastructure.