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GAZETTE
JAN/FEB 1993 '
request for information has been
unreasonably refused or ignored, or
has been inadequately answered may
seek a judicial or administrative review
of the decision in accordance with the
national legal system, Art. 4.
Is there a Fee for Information?
Yes. But such charge may not exceed
a reasonable cost, Art. 5.
Must General Information Be
Available to the Public?
Yes. Member states are obliged to
provide general information to the
public on the state of the
environment by such means as the
periodic publication of descriptive
reports, Art. 7.
Comment: This obligation would
seem to be well met by the quarterly
environmental bulletin published by
the Department of the Environment
and available on request. Also The
Environmental Information Service,
ENFO, at 17 St. Andrews Street,
Dublin 2, Ph. 01-6793144, has a vast
amount of information on the
environment and on related topics,
and is open to the public.
To date, Ireland has implemented
this directive to the extent that an
enabling act, the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Act, 1992,
was enacted in April, 1992. Section
110 (1) of this Act states that the
Minister of the Environment,
following consultation with any
other Minister of the Government
whom he considers is concerned,
"shall make regulations for the
making available by such public
authorities as may be specified of
specified information relating to the
environment to any person upon
request and, in particular, for the
purpose of giving full effect to
Council Directive 90/313/EEC."
Section 110 (2) outlines what these
regulations may provide for. In
essence this includes the different
provisions of the directive. Finally
si 10(3), repeats almost verbatim the
definition in the directive of
"information relating to the
environment." Section 110 came into
force on 23 April, 1992 and the
necessary regulations are currently
being drafted by the Department,.
What remains to be done by the
Minister of the Environment is to
bring into force the regulations and
administrative provisions necessary to
make the provisions of the directive
and of the enabling section of the'
EPA Act, 1992 effective.
What remains to be seen is whether
or not the exceptions will be
interpreted in so restrictive a manner
as to effectively limit the broad
scope of the directive indicated by
the definition and by the general
access to environmental information
clearly envisaged by the directive as
stated in Art. 1: "The objective of
this Directive is to ensure freedom of
access to, and dissemination of,
information on the environment held
by public authorities and to set out
the basic terms and conditions on
which such information should be
made available."
Much depends on what use is made
in practice of such exceptions as;
• the confidentiality of the
proceedings of public authorities,
• commercial and industrial
confidentiality,
• internal communications.
The then Minister of State at the
Department of the Environment,
Mary Harney,
speaking of the EPA
Act, 1992 and the Agency's future
performance certainly indicated that
we can hope for legislation that will
be effective when she said "if this
legislation should prove inadequate
or ineffective, I will not shirk from
bringing forward amending
legislation" (IT 16.4.92).
*Donal O'Leary BL., is a practising
barrister specialising in
Environmental Law and is a
founding member of IELA, the Irish
Environmental Law Association.
Donal O'Leary BL
SYS Spring
Conference
Jump into Spring at Adare Manor,
the venue for the next SYS
Conference which will be held on the
weekend of 5-7 March, 1993.
Application forms are enclosed with
this
Gazette
and as the number of
delegates is limited it is advisable to
book early.
Copies of the papers delivered at the
SYS Autumn 1992 Conference, held
in Galway, are now available on
request from
Delphine Kelly,
c/o A
& L Goodbody. The papers are as
follows:-
Arbitration and Alternative
Dispute
Resolution
by Tim Bouchier-Hayes, Partner,
McCann FitzGerald. The paper
outlines the pros and cons of
arbitration and other options to
resolve disputes.
Building Regulations - Who
Should Certify
Compliance?
by Rory O'Donnell, Senior
Partner, Rory O'Donnell & Co.
The paper highlights the importance
of obtaining certificates of
compliance from adequately
qualified professionals and sets
out which qualifications are
acceptable.
Current Developments in
Environmental
Law
by Garret Gill, Partner, Matheson
Ormsby Prentice. The paper
highlights the ever increasing
complexity of environmental law and
its importance to practitioners. It
deals with the recent Irish
legislation, the implementation of
various EC directives and regulations
and various international conventions
and protocols.
Gavin Buckley
SYS Public Relations Officer
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