Ireland referred to CJEU over peat-cutting
The European Commission is to refer Ireland to the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU) for failing to comply with a directive on environmental-impact assessments (EIAs).
The EU body said that it was aware that “significant” peat-cutting activity, which was not subject to planning permission or EIA, was continuing, especially in relation to sites below 50 hectares.
“Despite evidence of these ongoing illegal activities, enforcement action at the local level is not being taken,” it said in a statement.
The commission acknowledged that Ireland had changed its legislation to implement a 1999 CJEU ruling on the incorrect transposition into Irish law of the first EIA directive.
‘Significant action’
The EU body began the current infringements proceedings against Ireland in 2019 and issued a ‘reasoned opinion’ setting out its concerns in 2020.
Since then, it said, Ireland had taken “significant action” to halt peat-cutting by the state-owned operator Bord Na Móna.
It added that the Environmental Protection Agency had been taking enforcement action against operators on privately owned commercial sites of over 50 hectares, which had resulted in some commercial peat operators halting their activities.
The commission concluded, however, that efforts by the authorities had been “insufficient”.