Submission to the Public Consultation on General Scheme of the House and Planning and Development Bill 2019.

Abstract

The Aarhus Convention (UNECE, 1998) arose out of Principle 10 (UNEP) of the Rio Declaration 1992 (UN, 1992), which embodies a key principle of international environmental law, that environmental decisions are best handled with the participation of those concerned. The three pillars of the Convention are Access to Information about the Environment, Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making and Access to Justice when these rights are denied. Implementation measures have been undertaken by the EU in the areas of Information and Participation rights and this is the main way these obligations make their way into Irish Law (e.g. the EIA Directive (Environmental Impact Assessment) and Access to Environmental Information (AIE) Regulations). The Convention has been declared an integral part of the EU legal order.