EC unlikely to implement fines over directive breaches
30/09/2005 - 12:45:09The Government has said the European Commission is unlikely to implement hefty fines over Ireland's failure to comply with a European Court of Justice ruling.
The EC was planning to ask the court to impose fines of more than €7.5m annually in relation to breaches of a directive on environmental impact assessments.
The court ruled in 1999 that Ireland was breaching the directive, particularly in relation to peat extraction.
However, the Department of the Environment said today that the fines would not be implemented as the breaches had since been eliminated.
