Ireland, like all countries, is facing the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. While Ireland has a wide-ranging environmental governance regime, implementation and enforcement issues continue to undermine the effectiveness of its environmental laws and policies.

Environmental rights are a potentially valuable tool to address this issue and to enhance environmental ambitions within policy and legislation. Such rights are gradually increasing in presence internationally including within treaties, resolutions and national constitutions.

Currently in Ireland, there are no express constitutional environmental rights. In April 2023, the Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity Loss recommended that a referendum be held on inserting environmental human rights and Rights of Nature into the Constitution.

This report, ‘Constitutionalising Environmental Rights – Practical Insights into the Irish Context‘ examines if, and how, Ireland should constitutionalise environmental rights. The project was undertaken by Dr Orla Kelleher and Dr Mary Dobbs of the School of Law and Criminology in Maynooth University and commissioned by Community Law & Mediation with funding from Lifes2Good Foundation and support from Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute.

With the potential of environmental rights to address the triple planetary crisis a live issue, the urgency of which is only likely to grow, the report provides valuable insights into constitutionalising environmental rights in Ireland and contains recommendations for policymakers, legislators, civil society and academia. 

Read the full report below.