EU opens action against Ireland on landfill
The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Ireland for failing to correctly transpose a directive on landfill into Irish law.
The EU body has also stepped up proceedings against Ireland in relation to three other areas of EU law.
The commission’s letter of formal notice is in relation to a directive that sets standards for landfills to prevent adverse effects on human health, water, soil, and air.
Under this directive, member states must ensure that certain technical rules and standards are respected when landfills are constructed.
Ireland now has two months to respond and address the shortcomings raised by the commission.
European Arrest Warrant
The EU body has also sent a reasoned opinion to Ireland for failing to comply with the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant, saying that Ireland had failed to address concerns about legislation on the issue that it had identified in previous letters of formal notice.
Ireland has two months to respond to the reasoned opinion, after which the commission could refer the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The EU body also says that Ireland has not addressed its concerns about failure to comply with an EU decision on combatting racism and xenophobia.
Cyber-security
It says that, while Ireland has notified some transposition measures, it believes that it “still fails to transpose the provisions related to criminalising the public incitement to violence or hatred against a group or a member of such group based on certain characteristics, as well as the conducts of condoning, denial, and gross trivialisation of international crimes and the Holocaust”.
Ireland is also one of 19 states that have been issued with a reasoned opinion for failing to notify the commission of the full transposition of the NIS2 Directive on cyber-security.
The Government published a draft bill on the issue last year, and has put it on the priority list for publication in its summer legislative programme.