Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as developed in Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information:
Under the right of access please provide any correspondence between Ireland and the EU on the issue of compliance with the Habitats Directive
For the purposes of this request please only include the Year 2025
By way of background:
Ireland breached the EU Habitats Directive by failing to designate sufficient Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and implement site-specific conservation measures for its Natura 2000 sites. In 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled against Ireland in case C-444/21 for these failures, which occurred primarily by January 2019. The judgment highlighted that Ireland also failed to address a general and persistent infringement across its Natura 2000 network. In addition, Ireland has not acted to stop peat extraction in Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).
The European Commission has now told Ireland it “must demonstrate compliance” with the Habitats Directive when granting farmers a nitrates derogation. It is unclear how Ireland can demonstrate compliance as recent CJEU rulings show non compliance. Hopefully the correspondence will illustrate what is now required, as it is unclear from media coverage to date
Yours faithfully,
Right to Know CLG, Registered in Dublin, Ireland No. 565565
Registered Office: 25 Herbert Place, Dublin 2