Éamon Ó Cuív on Supreme Court ruling over substitute consents
Éamon Ó Cuív outlined a recent Supreme Court decision on the legality of the leave to apply for substitute consents process and its relationship with the EIA Directive. He highlighted the Court's finding that Irish substitute consent provisions do not sufficiently implement the EIA Directive and said he would revert to the Deputy with a more comprehensive reply.
Supreme Court finding
The Supreme Court found that the legal provisions for substitute consent do not sufficiently implement the EIA Directive, citing decisions of the European Court of Justice and concluding that elements required by Irish law for an application for leave for substitute consent could not be described as exceptional.
What substitute consent is
Substitute consent allows applicants in exceptional circumstances to make a retrospective application for a project that should have had an environmental impact assessment carried out before undertaking the development but did not. The exceptional circumstances must be set out in a leave to apply application.
Board and Plan Ola
The leave to apply application is made to onboard Plan Ola, with the Board determining whether sufficient exceptional circumstances exist that would allow the applicant to be provided with the opportunity to apply for substitute consent.
Government response and next steps
He said the matter has been considered in respect of the legal advice to Government and that he will come back with a more comprehensive reply to the Deputy.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Teachta, recently the Supreme Court issued a decision on various issues surrounding the legality of the leave to apply for substitute consents process. Now, substitute consent allows applicants in exceptional circumstances to make a retrospective application for a project that should have had an environmental impact assessment carried out before undertaking the development but did not. The exceptional circumstances must be set out in a leave to apply application to onboard Plan Ola, with the Board determining whether sufficient exceptional circumstances exist that would allow the applicant to be provided with the opportunity to apply for substitute consent. The Supreme Court has found that substitute consent legal provisions do not sufficiently implement the EIA Directive, in light of various decisions of the European Court of Justice, describing how the elements required by Irish law for an application for leave for substitute consent could not be described as exceptional. Thank you Deputy. I will revert back to the Deputy in relation to that. My understanding is that that has been considered in respect of the legal advice to Government on that, but I will come back with a more comprehensive reply to the Deputy. queught sovereign developing eso as as as as as as as
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
