John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Ireland signed the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters on 25 June 1998. Progress towards ratification of the Convention is closely aligned with work at EU level and, in that context, the European Union has adopted two Directives as part of the ratification process for the Convention. These deal with public access to environmental information (2003/4/EC) and public participation in certain environmental decision-making procedures (2003/35/EC).

The European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007 came into effect on 1 May 2007. These Regulations transpose EU Directive 2003/4/EC on Public access to environmental information. The process to transpose the Public Participation Directive is well advanced, with legislation completed to amend the majority of the relevant consent systems.

The work to amend the remaining outstanding consent systems will be finalised by the Departments concerned as soon as possible. When this work has been completed I, along with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, will ensure that the instrument of ratification of the Aarhus Convention is submitted to Government and laid before the Dáil as a matter of urgency. Ratification of the Aarhus Convention is a priority and I am making every effort to achieve this end at the earliest possible date.