Response to the Consultation on Ireland’s draft Plan of Action pursuant to Decision VIII/8h of the Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (the ‘Aarhus Convention’), was adopted on 25 June 1998 in the Danish city of Aarhus. Ireland ratified the Convention on 20 June 2012.
The Convention protects everyone’s right to live in a safe and suitable environment for their health and wellbeing. Its provisions are broken down into 3 pillars concerning, information on the environment, public participation in decision-making and access to administrative or judicial review procedures.
In accordance with Article 15 of the Convention, there is a non-confrontational, non-judicial and consultative committee for reviewing compliance with the Convention known as the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee (ACCC).
Since 2013, 10 non-compliance cases concerning Ireland have been accepted as admissible for consideration by the ACCC. There were initiated by communications from the public.
At the 8th session of the Meeting of the Parties, there was findings of non-compliance by Ireland in three cases. Under paragraph 3(a) of Decision VIII/8h, Ireland was required to submit a Plan of Action to the ACCC outlining how non-compliance would be addressed.
This submission is a response to Ireland’s draft Plan of Action. In it, we advocate for improved timeliness of appeals to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information and better public participation in decision-making that affects the environment.