European Court: Ireland has 'failed to fulfil obligations' under EU water legislation
The European Court of Justice has ruled that Ireland 'failed to fulfil its obligations" in relation to certain legislation on water quality.
The court found that under the European Commisson's key water legislation - the Water Framework Directive - Ireland had failed to meet certain "directives" on ground water and surface water.
It specifically highlighted that Ireland had failed to "transpose fully or correctly" certain "articles" which are set out in the directives in the field of water policy.
According to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, he is now "carefully studying the judgment with the assistance of the officials in my department and in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General and the CSSO (Chief State Solicitor’s Office)".
Minister Browne added that he did "not propose to comment in detail immediately, other than to say that the department recognises the importance and significance of the judgment and the findings of technical non-compliance therein in respect of the transposition of the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC".
The minister added: "The government has made very considerable progress in recent years: Ireland has been engaging with the European Commission on this matter throughout all stages of the proceedings and recently sought to address the complaint through additional transposing legislation which was enacted earlier this year.
"We will respond to this judgment swiftly with positive and constructive actions in order to bring Ireland into full compliance and the department will put in place a work programme to review the Irish statute book to identify any necessary amendments and to address all outstanding matters identified in this judgment."
He said that the government also welcomed "ongoing engagement with the commission in this regard and remain cognisant of Ireland’s duty of sincere cooperation.”
However environmental organisations said the EU court's decision showed a "systemic and abject failure of Irish government to protect water".
Water quality
The Sustainable Water Network (SWAN) - a network of 25 environmental organisations - has welcomed the European Court of Justice ruling and said it should be viewed as a "national embarrassment" for Ireland.
The network said that "this is a strong and wide-ranging ruling, identifying serious non-compliances with a whole host of water protection requirements in the directive, including failure to provide adequate controls on water abstraction and failure to put in place a regulatory framework to prevent physical damage to our waterways".
According to SWAN, the network had previously warned that Ireland’s abstraction legislation "fell far short of the requirements of the directive and that there are no adequate regulations on physical damage to our rivers, lakes and coasts, in breach of the Water Framework Directive".
"This ruling has vindicated this position," it added.
