Gormley: I’ll close loophole on environmental studies

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley has promised to close a loophole in Irish law that allows developers to begin work on large construction projects before the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as required by EU legislation.

The Green party leader is also expected to bring proposals to cabinet in the next few weeks that will remove the ability of developers to seek retention permission for unauthorised developments that would otherwise have been subject to an EIA.

It follows yesterday’s ruling by the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg that the Government had failed to comply with an EU directive by not ensuring that domestic legislation required EIAs to be carried out on all building projects that were likely to have an impact on the environment before actual work began.