Access to Information on the Environment in Ireland

With a view to giving effect to Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and Council on public access to environmental information (the AIE Directive), Regulations have been introduced in Ireland by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with an effective commencement date of 1st May 2007.

The new Regulations, entitled the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations, S.I. 133 of 2007, (the AIE Regulations) provide that, subject to certain exceptions, information relating to the environment held by, or for, a public authority must be made available on request to any person. The Regulations repeal the previous legislative instrument for accessing environmental information, the European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 1998 (S.I. 125 of 1998).

The Regulations provide a broader definition of environmental information than that which previously existed, outline the manner in which requests for information may be submitted to, and provided by, public authorities and introduce a formal appeals procedure.

The Freedom of Information Acts are not affected and will continue to operate in parallel with the new AIE Regulations.

The Minister has also introduced Official Guidelines to accompany the new AIE Regulations . These Guidelines are intended to assist and offer guidance to public authorities on the implementation of the new AIE Regulations and to applicants who wish to access environmental information.

Any queries in relation to the AIE Regulations may be addressed to environmentpolicy@environ.ie.