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William Finnerty <newinngalway@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 13:56:39 +0100 (BST) Dear News Editor, With regard to the Tara / M3 Motorway controversy, might it help I wonder if Republic of Ireland NGOs applied some pressure to our government, hopefully with the support of our media, to have the international Aarhus Convention Agreement "laid before Dail Eireann" (as required under the terms of Article 29.5.1 of Bunreacht na hEireann)? And, were such an effort to succeed, so that the Aarhus Convention
Agreement became a core part of Republic of Ireland environmental law,
might not 90% or more of ALL our environment problems be solved in one
fell-swoop?
Would such a result not be likely in turn to also
have very favourable consequences for the promotion of
the "common good" referred to in the preamble of our
Constitution?
The three main provisions of the Aarhus Convention Agreement,
signed by the Republic of Ireland on June
25th 1998, are listed below.
GENERAL: The Århus Convention establishes a number of rights of the public
(citizens and their associations) with regard to the environment. Public
authorities (at national, regional or local level) are to contribute to allowing
these rights to become effective. The Convention provides for:
1) The right of everyone to receive environmental information that is held
by public authorities (“access to environmental information”). This can include
information on the state of the environment, but also on policies or measures
taken, or on the state of human health and safety where this can be affected by
the state of the environment. Citizens are entitled to obtain this information
within one month of the request and without having to say why they require it.
In addition, public authorities are obliged, under the Convention, to actively
disseminate environmental information in their possession;
2) The right to participate from an early stage in environmental
decision-making. Arrangements are to be made by public authorities to enable
citizens and environmental organisations to comment on, for example, proposals
for projects affecting the environment, or plans and programmes relating to the
environment, these comments to be taken into due account in decision-making, and
information to be provided on the final decisions and the reasons for it
(“public participation in environmental decision-making”);
3) The right to challenge, in a court of law, public decisions that have
been made without respecting the two aforementioned rights or environmental law
in general (“access to justice”).
The text used to describe the above three points has been taken
from: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/aarhus/
Further information on Bunreacht na hEireann (meaning "Fundamental Law of
Ireland" in the Celtic language) can be found at:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Bunreacht+na+hEireann&btnG=Google+Search For some background information on the Hill of Tara difficulties, please go
to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/taraskreen/ The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland ratified the
Aarhus Convention Agreement on February 23rd 2005.
The United Nations list of European countries who have now ratified
the Aarhus Convention Agreement, numbering thirty-five at the present
time, can be seen at:
http://www.unece.org/env/pp/ctreaty.htm Yours sincerely,
William Finnerty
"St Albans" New Inn Ballinasloe County Galway Republic of Ireland.
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