Lack of funding and enforcement damaging environment, committee told

Professor Áine Ryall, from the Centre for Law & the Environment School of Law at University College Cork. Picture: Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland

A lack of political will, prioritisation, funding, access to justice, and enforcement historically has led to the degradation of nature and the environment in Ireland, the Oireachtas' Climate Committee has heard.

TDs and senators considering the recommendations of the first-ever Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity last year heard from a range of experts, who unanimously told the committee that the current fragmented approach towards environmental protection had to change.

Leading academics and international activists gave expert opinions on enshrining nature's protection into the constitution, as recommended by the Citizens Assembly.

Professor Áine Ryall, from the Centre for Law & the Environment School of Law at University College Cork (UCC), said it is "making a joke" of environmental and nature protection laws if they are not enforced.

There are many reasons Ireland has "comprehensively failed as the Assembly put it", Prof Ryall said in response to questioning from committee chair and Green Party TD Brian Leddin.

"First of all, it is a lack of prioritisation. We have to prioritise enforcement and full implementation of our existing laws. That ties in very much with having a coherent approach — my perspective having been involved in this area for 20 years now is that we have a very fragmented approach to environmental governance. That coherence is missing. That fragmentation is so damaging.

"We have also, of course, failed spectacularly to resource our public authorities. That's a well-known fact but it is something we cannot get away from. Enforcement is a resource-intensive activity and it is important that you link enforcement in with promoting compliance. In an ideal world, you'd prefer not to have to do a lot of enforcing if people saw it as being worthwhile to comply with the law in the first place," she said.

It is political will that drives such things, Prof Ryall said, adding that in other countries explicit constitutional rights for nature tend to bring "greater visibility" and "tends to support more robust environmental laws and more robust environmental policies".

"It very much puts the environment on the table," she said.

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Dr Mary Dobbs, associate professor and Dr Orla Kelleher, assistant professor at Maynooth University, told the committee that the Citizens Assembly's recommending the establishment of environmental courts at Circuit and District Court level is of particular significance.

They would complement existing proposals for one at the High Court level, and paralleling approaches to family law, they said.

"Potential advantages include improved enforcement, enhanced expertise, greater efficiency, and reduced costs," they jointly said in their opening statement.

More than 100 states have enshrined a right to a healthy environment or other constitutional protections for a healthy environment, they added.