On behalf of Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (CHASE), on public participation in environmental decision-making in Ireland 

The petitioner complains that, under Irish planning law, local communities lack early and effective opportunities to participate in the decision-making process regarding planning applications for major infrastructure developments (referred to as SID) that are likely to have a significant environmental impact, in breach of the Aarhus Convention and EU environmental law. According to the petitioner, there are several major obstacles to adequate public participation: the public is completely excluded from the mandatory pre-planning consultation process; the timeframes to allow for effective participation are inadequate and unbalanced compared to those applicable to developers; the financial costs to support participation of the community at the planning stage are onerous and disproportionate; the only available remedy is a costly and time consuming judicial review process (no administrative review possible); and the possibility by the developer to repeatedly submit the same application until it passes unchallenged due to lack of financial resources. In addition, the petitioner contends that the Irish government attempts to create further barriers to public participation and access to justice by halving the current time limit for appeals and by imposing additional qualification criteria for NGOs wishing to bring judicial review challenges.