Access to justice under the Århus Convention and Irish judicial review

Abstract

The case of Sweetman v An Bord Pleanála, decided in the High Court of Ireland in April 2007, raises a number of interesting issues regarding the scope of Directive 2003/35/EC on public participation in respect of the drawing up of certain plans and programmes relating to the environment (the Public Participation Directive), which is intended to give effect to the provisions of the Århus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, and particularly whether Irish law requires amendment as a consequence. Clarke J. clarified that Irish judicial review procedure could be modified, if necessary, to accommodate the requirements of European law, in such a way as to obviate the need for implementing legislation in certain circumstances.