The High Court dismissed Right to Know CLG’s judicial review challenge to a rule requiring people seeking environmental information to state that their request is made under Ireland’s Access to Information on the Environment (AIE) Regulations.
Mr Justice Meenan ruled that the requirement was a lawful practical arrangement for processing requests and did not restrict access to environmental information. He also found that the email exchange at the centre of the case did not amount to a refusal to provide the information sought.
Right to Know had emailed the Taoiseach’s office on 3 August 2018, seeking documents and records of Government discussions relating to environmental assessments of the National Planning Framework and National Development Plan. The office asked whether the organisation was making a request under the AIE Regulations or the Freedom of Information Act, saying the two regimes had different procedures. Right to Know replied that it considered its request valid and asked for an internal review of what it described as a refusal.
The judge said the office had sought clarification so it could assign the request to the appropriate personnel. An affidavit from an assistant principal officer for the second respondent said the office remained willing to deal with the request as one made under the AIE Regulations.
The organisation sought orders quashing an implied decision not to conduct an internal review, declarations that the requirement in Regulation 6(1)(b) was incompatible with the AIE Directive and unconstitutional, and other relief, including a possible reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The judge held that the Directive allowed member states to establish practical arrangements to make access to environmental information effective. Requiring applicants to identify the AIE regime, he said, helped direct requests to the responsible officials. He concluded that the regulation was permitted by the Directive and by the European Communities Act 1972, and did not breach the Constitution’s reservation of law-making power to the Oireachtas.
The court dismissed the application. It did not consider the respondents’ separate submission that Right to Know had failed to use available appeal mechanisms, saying it was unnecessary in light of its conclusions. The judgment did not decide the merits of the underlying information request.