Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that amendment No. 171 is in the context of legal proceedings only. The senior counsel in the Attorney General's office has checked all this from a legal perspective and it is completely Aarhus-compliant.

The ability of the public to participate under the Aarhus Convention is not in any way compromised by this. In fact, Article 9 is expressly catered for by the provision that cost of protection rules under section 50B of the Planning and Development Act and the Environment Act 2000 are catered for.

If it is of use to the Deputy, we can get a more detailed note to him in the next few days because there is quite a lot of detail in the question. Again, this has been checked from a legal perspective by senior counsel and we are confident it is legally compliant in terms of Aarhus.