Michael Fitzmaurice warns habitats rules block housing and roads
Michael Fitzmaurice spoke in the Dáil about the recent derogation on the habitats directive, welcoming the decision but warning that the real work now begins. He warned that the EU Court of Justice interpretation and related objections are blocking infrastructure, raising costs and threatening access to water, housing and transport.
Fitzmaurice said the derogation announcement was welcome but stressed implementation will be difficult. He argued that unelected European officials and the ECJ's interpretation have introduced provisos that will require extensive screening and compliance for projects that touch protected sites.
He warned the requirements will cost millions to the State and questioned whether there will be enough scientists and resources to meet timelines for assessments. Fitzmaurice said those costs and resource demands will fall across government, councils, private investors and ordinary farmers.
Fitzmaurice described cases where the habitats directive is being used to object to ports, airports, roads and houses, and said developers and local councils are being blocked. He said the directive's interpretation is preventing progress on major infrastructure and on routine rural building, adding extra expense and uncertainty for builders and young people.
He cited local flooding problems and specific examples from Roscommon and other counties where flood relief and water projects were delayed by objections. He recalled a case where a snail allegedly absent from Loch Talt had been used to prevent water supplies reaching nine or ten thousand people, and referenced past issues such as the Galway City water scheme and interventions by the Office of Public Works and local authorities.
Fitzmaurice urged ministers and European colleagues to push for simplification and a rethink of the ECJ interpretation, warning that the current approach risks prioritising species protections over basic public needs. He said the Government must act to unblock housing, roads and other infrastructure if progress is to be made.
Derogation welcomed but work starts
Fitzmaurice said the derogation announcement was welcome but stressed implementation will be difficult. He argued that unelected European officials and the ECJ's interpretation have introduced provisos that will require extensive screening and compliance for projects that touch protected sites.
Costs and capacity concerns
He warned the requirements will cost millions to the State and questioned whether there will be enough scientists and resources to meet timelines for assessments. Fitzmaurice said those costs and resource demands will fall across government, councils, private investors and ordinary farmers.
Habitat rules blocking projects
Fitzmaurice described cases where the habitats directive is being used to object to ports, airports, roads and houses, and said developers and local councils are being blocked. He said the directive's interpretation is preventing progress on major infrastructure and on routine rural building, adding extra expense and uncertainty for builders and young people.
Local flooding and water examples
He cited local flooding problems and specific examples from Roscommon and other counties where flood relief and water projects were delayed by objections. He recalled a case where a snail allegedly absent from Loch Talt had been used to prevent water supplies reaching nine or ten thousand people, and referenced past issues such as the Galway City water scheme and interventions by the Office of Public Works and local authorities.
Call for EU simplification and political action
Fitzmaurice urged ministers and European colleagues to push for simplification and a rethink of the ECJ interpretation, warning that the current approach risks prioritising species protections over basic public needs. He said the Government must act to unblock housing, roads and other infrastructure if progress is to be made.
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Transcript
Minister, during the week the news of the derogation is welcome first of all, but in my opinion the read work starts now, because unfortunately unelected bureaucrats in Europe have presented a proviso that over the coming years, because of the habitats director, to put it very bluntly, basically screening out what a cow does in a field and the impact on be it the barra, the nor, the sewer, the black water, the own reef, whatever river you talk about. And this is going to cost millions to this state first of all, I don't know is there going to be enough of scientists to be able to do all this in the timeline, but there is a bigger wider problem Minister, you would have seen it as indeed Minister Morden would have seen it, in the line of flooding, first of all the objections but the way the habitats directive is being used to block people, we see now that if you are trying to extend a port, if you are trying to extend an airport, if you are trying to extend an airport, if you are trying to extend or do a road, if you are trying to build a house, I see young people in my area that are 40 miles from Loch Corrib because the sinking river goes into the river Clare and goes on to Loch Corrib, you have to start spending two and a half thousand to go building a house in a rural area in case you may, is the word, have an impact on the site. We see in Minister Harkins constituency go back a few years where a snail that did not exist in Loch Talt where it was holding Irish water up from providing water to people, nine or ten thousand people in that area. Minister, this cannot continue, it is blocking a government first of all, your hands are tied, if you look at Loch Fuenchner you have dealt with it as well, it is a government trying to make progress, be it building houses, building roads, whatever infrastructure you are trying to do and indeed councils and indeed private people or private investors at the moment are all being blocked. This legislation started off in 1997 but the ECJ kangaroo court I would call it, the interpretation it is using of the habitats directive aided and abetted by NGOs funded by the state deciding to try and wrap the state up in knots. It cannot, it cannot, it cannot continue and I do commend Minister Callaghan who is over there yesterday in Brussels where he spoke about how the ECJ interpretation basically of in the line of immigration and all of that is becoming a problem. And I believe that as a government if we want to make progress and if you want to make progress be it in housing, be it in roads, be it in all the major infrastructure projects that ministers in the Council of Ministers in Europe will have to get together. We are well able to come in here at times and Europe send over more legislation on top of what we have already on whichever item we are talking about. The real to all was Ed Moore. But no one ever talks about was there a mistake made. Has the, the, the internet or the court of justice interpretation has it gone too far. And are we now prioritising basically a snail over people to be able to drink water, live in a house, have a port, have an airport or farm their land? That's what's happening at the moment. We are starting on the derogation farmers, we are starting on the derogation farmers but what will happen, they will drive it down to the ordinary small farmer in this country. Don't point the finger at me. You have a time slot, respect it. Minister. Thanks Les Cian Corlea. And first of all, can I just say Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned Loch Funcioner there in his intervention in County Roscommon. And I know that area intimately well, you know, for all of the wrong reasons unfortunately. The poor misfortunate people there had to put up with years of torture, for want of a better word, because an attempt by the Office of Public Works and Roscommon County Council to try and relieve the situation with regard to flooding there was being held up and objected to. And the instruments to which Deputy Fitzmaurice refers, particularly the Habitat Directive, was the principal objective, or the principal instrument. Now I know Minister Moran has made huge progress in this area and, you know, I think that this will probably be one of the first Christmases that those people have down there where at least they have pumps running and they have the knowledge of knowing that that terrible situation isn't going to happen to them on Christmas Day again. But the wider point to which you make, I agree with it, in terms of EU simplification, and so does the President of the EU Commission. Like one of the hallmarks of the President of the EU Commission's contributions to the State of the Union Address was the need for the Union to look at EU simplification. Now I don't believe that it was ever intended that such an instrument as what was originally designed to protect the habitats of flora and fauna was going to be used as an instrument or a method to allow sewerage to flow through people's houses, regardless of the town or the village, for instance, where the flood relief scheme was to take place, or regardless of whether there was potable water. I remember back in the 90s or early 90s, we all do the situation with the Galway City Water Scheme, and Galway City Council, I think, were the first local authority, indeed the first agent of the State, to use IROP. Now the Deputy will know exactly what I'm talking about, where when there's an overriding need for public good, you can actually try and, as he says, screen out things that would otherwise not be looked favourably upon in an application. But that's a long, arduous process, and it can be appealed. And I agree with you that, like, in terms of our infrastructure, whether it's in the building of a road, a railway, the laying of a water main, I mean, we're talking about a water main from north of Limerick to Dublin. All of these things are being objected to by people for spurious reasons in many cases. But the one time that you mentioned the word, the Our House Convention, you know this as well as I do, you have carte blanche to get right the whole way up to the Supreme Court. Now there's an awful lot of people in here, Deputy Fitzmaurice, who don't agree with my analysis and don't agree with your analysis. That is another problem. And, like, if legislation was brought before the Dáil tomorrow in terms of harmonising or simplifying Ireland's interpretation to the Habitats Directive, I'm not so sure that everybody who claims to be on the side of what you're talking about and what I'm talking about would all of a sudden jump to that. And certainly when it comes to the European institutions, we definitely know that's not the case. And so, but look, in general, the point that you're making around EU simplification is a matter that the Minister for Agriculture, Minister Moran and myself and others entirely agree with. Deputy Fitzmaurice. Minister, I reckon what you've said, but the reality is so fair. And unfortunately, I have lived through a review of the Habitats Directive where I was invited to go into it. And to be honest about it, I was well off going to home counting the cattle because I wasted a day within a review of the Habitats Directive because otherwise you were allowed to speak for a few minutes. And after that, good luck and good night and nothing ever became of it. That's been quite, I'd done it a few years ago as I was asked to do it. And the sad part about the ECJ as well, and this needs to be looked at. I see a case at the moment where I asked that we'd give evidence of a background to something and we wouldn't be even allowed to put in the paperwork towards it when Ireland is being taken on. You know, a person that would have knowledge of it. I would ask you though, and I know you talked about all the different places, it's holding jobs up six, seven, eight years. I know Minister Moran is, this is the first winter in Lough Fynchina. I understand all that and I welcome all that. But the problem is for housing, for all the different projects in the country, we are now at a stage where it's seven, eight years, you're going round in circles. And it's aided and abetted by NGOs that the government are funding. That's the reality of it. Look at the case that's going on at the moment where, in the line of the derogation, aided and abetted by NGOs. So we either decide to pull the plug on them, on the funding they're getting, as well as going to Europe to explain to people that people have to live and that we have to change this legislation for the betterment of people. Thanks, Lasky and Corolla. And thanks, Deputy Fitzmaurice. And I omitted to say in my original response, I think Minister Callaghan during the week was not referring to the ECJ, but referring to the European Court of Human Rights. But I know the point that you're making, which is the same thing. And it is about EU simplification. And whether it's in relation to potable water or being able to flush the toilet, you know, it is taking too long. It's not a shortage of money. Anyone would tell you that in most cases, the delivery of infrastructure now has inbuilt into it a substantial amount of legal fees. And an awful lot of the legal fees are being absorbed by cases that are being contested in the courts over environmental regulations. And I don't believe, to be honest about it, that those regulations, the same as yourself, were ever designed to be interpreted in a fashion to prevent people from getting access to potable water. And if that is the case, well, then it is time to go back and re-look at it. And with regard to what you said there on the Nitrates Directive, I think this is a good week in terms of what has been achieved by the Minister for Agriculture. But it's about EU simplification. It's about making sure that a common-sense approach, working with farmers and people who know the land and who love the land and who know their animals better than anybody, is able to have a manageable way to do it. And they're not people that want to go out and degrade or destroy the environment. They want to work with the environment because it's where they derive their income from. How wonderful.