Cowen wins order over emissions documents

THE Taoiseach has won a High Court order overturning the Commissioner for Environmental Information’s decision ordering the release to a Dublin man of a document containing information of a 2003 Cabinet discussion of greenhouse gas emissions.

In an important judgment dealing with the relationship of EU law to national law, Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill found Commissioner Emily O’Reilly had no jurisdiction to decide the effect of regulations enacted here in 2007 to implement a 2003 EU Directive guaranteeing a right of access by the public to environmental information held by public authorities and was “at odds with the provisions and stated intent of the directive”.

That issue was for the courts to decide and he found no conflict between the regulations and the directive, the judge said.