Activists refused leave to challenge GM trials

Environmentalists have been refused a High Court order allowing them the means to legally challenge Teagasc’s planned genetically-modified potato trials.

The group, made up of Green Party councillors and the umbrella group GM Free amongst others, had made the application using the Aarhus Convention, which gives the public the right to environmental information and which was ratified in this country two months ago.

If the application had been successful, the group could have avoided the possibility of having to pay “prohibitively expensive” costs in the event it lost its judicial action against the decision.