Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting contributions. As they might be aware, I am substituting for my colleague, Senator Higgins.

Recommendation No. 31 of the citizen's assembly is crystal clear, namely, that we should table a constitutional amendment to establish substantive rights, both for humans and for nature more broadly. We are subject to EU environmental law, including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Aarhus Convention, which is an integral part of the EU legal order. Ireland is a party to the convention in its own right.

This is an impossible question, but will Dr. Ryall briefly outline for us what we already have in terms of procedural and substantive rights and where the further rights being sought would sit and add value in that context? I appreciate that she may wish to reflect on this question, so I will invite her to revert to us in writing if answering now is too difficult and if she would prefer to do so.

I am concerned about us sitting here in good faith and discussing a constitutional change of this significance when we have failed to implement what we already have. The Government has engaged in a wholesale attack on access to justice in new legislation and in a number of successive amendments to environmental law while also preparing to introduce a new planning and developing Bill that will significantly curtail access to justice and judicial review. How can we say that we should amend our Constitution to give the environment and nature substantive rights while also restricting people’s right to access justice so that important environmental rights that already exist cannot be litigated properly?

I noted Dr. Ryall’s reference to the Aarhus Convention as an international treaty that Ireland and the wider EU ratified. I appreciate that she may not be able to comment on specific cases of non-compliance, given her position as chair of the Aarhus Convention compliance committee, but is she able to comment generally on the importance of compliance, appropriate transposition, the role of access to justice and the importance of implementing what we already have as a priority, given the urgency of the situation for nature? That last recommendation is No. 8 of the citizen's assembly, as Dr. Ryall highlighted.

I also want to ask-----