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The newly amended Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive which came into force on the 15th May 2014 seeks to offer better protection for the environment while also reducing administrative burdens.

Based on the experience of the first 25 years of the Directive the new Directive seeks to address some of the more problematic areas and provide a more streamlined process.

The key amendments are as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

New planning regulations were signed into law at the end of November which reflect the European Court of Justice ruling (Case C–50/09) that Irish did not adequately transpose Article 3 of the Directive which makes the competent authority responsible for carrying out an environmental impact assessment. 

The net effect is that there is now greater onus on the planning authority to be responsible for the quality of an EIA.  The regulations give the planning authority the tools to seek higher quality requirements from applicants.  Whilst this has occurred in practice the law now firmly confirms that it is the planning authority who is responsible for EIA, not the applicant/developer.