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Press Release: Environment 17 October 2007

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Dún Laoghaire, Environment, Justice and Latest Press Releases

17 February 2007

EU Commission's court action on Tara welcome - Cuffe

– Important environmental law issues need to be clarified

The Green Party's Law Reform spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe TD welcomed the European Commission's decision today to clarify the legal implications of the previous government's decision to construct the M3 motorway through the Tara Skryne valley.

Deputy Cuffe said: "I welcome consideration of these issues by the European Court of Justice. The Commission is raising points of great importance for EU environmental law and heritage protection both in Ireland and across the EU.

"My Green Party colleague, John Gormley has already started the process of overhauling Irish heritage legislation to ensure that the M3/Tara controversy can never happen again. These changes will, we hope, satisfy the European Commission's entirely justified concerns that the legal framework for environmental and heritage protection in Ireland is inadequate.

"For the record, the Green Party opposed An Bord Pleanála's decision to give consent to the routing of the M3 motorway in 2003. We opposed the previous Environment Minister's consent in relation to the National Monument at Lismullin in June this year, and we also opposed An Bord Pleanála's subsequent decision on this matter.

"All of the legal advice available to Minister Gormley since taking office has been that Irish law does not provide any means for him to affect or change the decisions on the routing of the M3 made by the previous government.

"We urgently need a decision from the ECJ on the question of further environmental impact assessment when discoveries of major archaeological or heritage value are made once a major construction project has commenced.

"I also believe that we need a new National Monuments Act to ensure that Ireland's invaluable heritage is adequately protected from the pressures of development," concluded Deputy Cuffe.