Trusted by the judiciary, government lawyers, prosecutors, and many leading counsel. Click here to request a subscription.
|
or click here to request site subscription to search and view all judgments |
The Court of Appeal refused an application by a peat extraction company to stay a High Court injunction which prohibited the company from extracting peat from specific bog areas pending the determination of its appeal. The High Court had previously found that the company’s activities required both an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and development consent (i.e. planning permission), and that the ongoing extraction breached both EU and domestic environmental law. In the current decision, the Court of Appeal found that the company presented arguable grounds for appeal on certain factual aggregation issues, but that the potential irreversible environmental harm and continuing breach of environmental law outweighed the unquantified financial loss claimed by the company. The court emphasised the importance of the public interest, EU compliance, and the need to prevent unlawful extraction before the appeal is determined—particularly as the company failed to provide compelling evidence of loss and the balance of justice lay in upholding the injunction.
stay application – injunction – peat extraction – environmental impact assessment (EIA) – development consent – planning permission – public interest – EU environmental law – irreversible environmental harm – aggregation of land threshold – section 99H of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 – balance of justice – High Court appeal – permission for substitute consent – judicial review
Note: This is intended to be a fair and accurate report of a decision made public by a court of law. Any errors should be notified to the editor and will be dealt with accordingly.
The only subject matter index for all Irish judgments over the past thirteen years. Click here to request a subscription.
Register Now