Ireland could face European Court of Justice over lack of environmental checks on peat extraction

The European Commission has threatened to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) if it does not carry out environmental impact assessments (EIA) for peat extraction.The Commission said that under an EU directive from 2011, member states are required to carry out an assessment of the environmental impacts of projects likely to have a significant negative impact on the environment, which included peat extraction.