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Conference to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Aarhus Convention

26 Nov 2018
Aarhus Convention 20th Anniversary

Áine Ryall (School of Law, UCC and Vice-Chair of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee) presented a paper at a conference organised by the Irish Centre for European Law in Dublin on 22 November 2018 to mark the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Aarhus Convention (Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters).

Using the Aarhus Convention as a case study, Áine’s paper examined the intersection between Irish law and international environmental law.  The paper also highlighted recent developments at national and international level concerning the right to a healthy environment.

Key themes in the paper were: the significant challenges that arise in practice for national legislatures when implementing international (environmental) law;  the risk of fragmentation of legal principle when a number of different legal venues are tasked with interpreting and applying the Aarhus Convention in practice (i.e. the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee, the Court of Justice of the European Union and the national courts); and the fundamental importance of the right to a healthy environment in the context of the enormous societal challenges posed by climate change.   

The conference was chaired by Mr Justice Robert Haughton, High Court of Ireland.  The contributors were: Jonas Ebbesson, Chair of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee; Dr Andrew Jackson Sutherland School of Law, UCD; and Mr Peter Tyndall, Commissioner for Environmental Information.

Centre for Law and the Environment

Room 1.63, T12 T656

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