THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over its failure to bring national legislation regarding the assessment of the effects of projects on the environment into line with EU rules.

The Commission said that, despite an earlier referral to the ECJ and subsequent ruling in March 2011, Ireland has not ensured the full transposition of the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive (EIA Directive) into national law. It said Ireland had generally accepted the Court’s findings and had stated its intention to adopt all the necessary legislation to implement the judgment by the end of May 2012 – but had failed to do so.

On the recommendation of Environment Commissioner, Janez Potočnik, Ireland will now be referred once more to the Court with the request that it impose a lump sum fine of over €1,800,000 and a daily penalty payment of over €19,000 for each day after the second Court ruling until the infringement ends.

The EIA Directive is aimed at ensuring that projects likely (by virtue of their nature, size or location) to have significant effects on the environment are subject to an impact assessment.