The criminal and uncertain costs associated with bringing environmental lawsuits into Ireland and targeting environmental NGOs who raise concerns have been strongly criticized by a senior EU official.

Aurel Ciobanu-Dordea, who oversees governance, enforcement and compliance with EU environmental law, said the European Commission will not ignore continuing problems with public access to justice in Ireland .

In an address to the Environment Ireland conference this week, the head of the environment’s directorate-general also highlighted continuing water quality issues and nature conservation failures.

On access to justice, he noted: “Ireland continues to be the costliest Member State to bring an environmental complaint to court. Jurisprudence from national courts has gone through different interpretations of cost rules and has left many environmental litigants unable to predict their cost exposure with certainty.

Many faced significant costs simply by pleading for clarification on costs, he said. “This needs to be taken into account. And we are not saying this for the first time… This has important consequences and the commission will act on it.

Mr Ciobanu-Dordea stressed: “We are particularly concerned about the increasingly aggressive stance taken against environmental activists in Ireland. There is evidence not only of increased use of Slapp [Strategic lawsuit against public participation] lawsuits, but also negative reports in the mainstream media, and even from politicians – such as the threat to cut funding to some NGOs.

‘Rule of law’

In this regard, he cited “negative reports on the actions of Friends of the Irish Environment”.

“It was a surprise for us to learn that this was happening in Ireland… It is disappointing, even worrying. The rule of law and its protection, especially in relation to the environment, is one of the main priorities of this commission.We believe that a radical change in behavior is needed, as it is highly unusual for an advanced society like Ireland to witness such behaviour.

Regarding water, he said “around 50% of urban waste water is still not collected and treated in accordance with the Urban Waste Water Directive”. Leakage rates were among the highest in Europe, while drinking water in parts of the country was substandard.

The Water Framework Directive “is still not fully implemented into Irish law” at a time of increased pressure, particularly from agriculture, he said. “I very much hope that the relevant Irish authorities will act in 2022 more decisively than in the past in this area,” he said.

There were serious challenges in nature and biodiversity, he said. The commission had welcomed that land-based designation of Special Protection Areas for Birds was finally complete, “but we noted that there is significant work to be done to protect landbirds in practice”.

Many species were in serious decline with some reproductive types at risk of extinction. “Urgent action is needed to address concerns about farmland birds in particular,” Ciobanu-Dordea said.

Marine biodiversity

He also said further work was urgently needed to finalize the identification and designation of marine sites to reflect the enormous wealth of marine biodiversity that Ireland has in its waters. “With less than 2.5% of marine waters protected, this represents one of the worst results of the Natura 2000 network in Europe”, he underlined.

The latest government reports showed that only 15% of terrestrial habitats were in favorable condition, while more than 50% suffered from continuing decline. He raised bog issues; particularly in the context of the ongoing legal proceedings initiated by the commission.

Ireland has yet to fully adopt the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, he said. “Ireland is the only Member State that has not yet fully transposed this directive, which was extensively revised in 2014.”

Although peat extraction and reforestation are classified as key economic activities, “no EIA has been carried out for any project in these categories to date”. He wondered if that was really the reason they weren’t executed.

They have been the subject of repeated complaints to the commission and cited as negative pressures on biodiversity – confirmed by Ireland’s own Article 17 state of conservation reports, Mr Ciobanu said – Dordea.

All of these “important and quite difficult” issues were raised with the Irish authorities during a structured dialogue last month.

Asked about the lack of water charges in Ireland given the infrastructure problems and continuing problems with drinking water quality and poor sewage treatment, he noted that the government had indicated that this problem would be resolved without the imposition of royalties. But the commission “cannot wait for the end of the world” if there continues to be an inadequate response.