Ireland's State of the Environment Report 2024

342 Chapter 13: Environment and Industry Figure 13.4  District and Circuit Court prosecutions concluded in the period January 2021-June 2024 ˜ 2021 ˜ 2022 ˜ 2023 ˜ 2024 0 5 10 15 20 25 January February March April May June July August September October November December Number of Prosecutions Month The EPA received 13 challenges to decisions issued by judicial review in the High Court in the January 2021-June 2024 period. In addition, the EPA was a notice party in two High Court challenges against planning decisions. Most cases related to decisions on industrial emission licences. The number of decided cases in the High Court or the Court of Appeal was four, with the outcome finding in favour of the EPA in all cases. Two challenges were dismissed as being premature and four judgments were challenged in the Court of Appeal, with a successful outcome in two and judgement awaited in two. EPA legal cases are expected to increase with a move to the Commercial Court and subsequently the Planning and Environmental Court, bringing additional resource requirements due to a strictly enforced and compressed timeline. 13 Principally the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2014 as amended (S.I. No. 615/2014), which enacted the Aarhus Convention in Irish law and the Access to Information on the Environment Regulations 2014. Since its establishment in 1993, the EPA has been committed to conducting its regulatory work in an open and transparent manner and to providing public access to regulatory correspondence related both to the licensing of major industrial, waste management and comparable activities and to the enforcement and monitoring of the environmental performance of licensed operators. This policy is in line with the Aarhus Convention (UN, 1998) and associated EU and national law. 13 With the introduction of the Licensing and Enforcement Access Portal (LEAP Online) in 2023, the public can access enforcement and compliance records on the EPA website (Topic Box 13.5). EPA inspection