Environmental Law Ireland held their annual conference on Thursday, 11 June 2026, where representatives from across the legal profession and beyond gathered at King’s Inns to discuss environmental justice from a domestic, EU and International law perspective.
This year’s conference covered the theme of ‘The evolving landscapes for Judicial Review in Ireland, and for the rule of law, International Law & Human Rights at an International level.’
The first part of the conference centred on the future of environmental judicial review in Ireland, in light of recent legislative developments, such as the Planning and Development Act 2024 and the proposed Critical Infrastructure Bill and the Civil Reform Bill. Conference Chair, Ms. Justice Marie Baker, emphasised the essential nature of the judicial review regime in this country: ‘It protects citizens, the environment and the land from irrational and unconscionable decision-making.’
Keynote speaker Prof. Áine Ryall highlighted that: ‘The accessibility of the law in all its senses is essential to the rule of law. It must be understandable in how it will engage and apply.’ However, the 2024 Act may result in environmental judicial review becoming even less accessible going forward. Tom Flynn SC outlined how the introduction of a restrictive scale of fees reveals an underlying agenda for these changes to ‘discourage litigation in this area as there is no legal aid for these types of cases. They are taken by lawyers on the basis that if they succeed, the bill of costs will cover it and reflect the work been done in accordance with market rates.’ The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment does not share this view, maintaining that the objective of this proposal is to bring greater predictability and proportionality to the State's legal costs in environmental judicial reviews. Margaret Heavey BL’s presentation provided concerning statistics on the number of ‘lay litigants’ (litigants not represented by a legal professional) in environmental judicial review cases in 2025, to which the panel expressed concerns that the area of environmental law could become ‘a kind of ghetto’ in which litigants are disproportionately representing themselves without the advice of a lawyer.
FLAC Chief Executive Eilis Barry stated that she found the scale of fees ‘absolutely gobsmacking’, ‘especially in that they only apply to applicants.’ She addressed the idea of litigants ‘topping up’ on fees that went beyond the cap, describing it as ‘not viable at all – people just don’t have the resources for that’. She emphasised the fact that lay litigants do not represent themselves by choice: ‘They either cannot afford lawyers or cannot afford to continue paying lawyers.’ This ties in with the broader issue that there is no legal aid available for any kind of judicial review in Ireland, with access to justice not being treated as an essential service in this country.
The second part of the conference turned to focus on the state of international law, human rights law, and the rule of law on an international level. Panel speakers drew attention to the blatant disregard for human rights that we are seeing, particularly with the ongoing atrocities in Gaza. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC warned that Gaza could become the ‘graveyard of international law’, with Claudio Francavilla of Human Rights Watch describing the EU as ‘an embarrassment of an institution’ that is ‘paralysed by its own rules’. Lynn Boylan MEP put forward the view that it is not the international law itself that is in crisis, but that we have a ‘political crisis.’ In the audience’s response to this panel discussion, a clear consensus emerged - in the words of Ms. Justice Baker: ‘We must never take democracy and the rule of law for granted. Each generation needs to defend and promote these anew.’
This sentiment leads us back to the greater message of hope and perseverance which emerged over the course of the day. Quoting Havel's Disturbing the Peace, Dr. Andrew Jackson ended his presentation on a note of reflection that: ‘Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.’ He maintained that particularly as lawyers, ‘we cannot indulge hopelessness’ and we must keep pushing forward by bringing cases in the public interest. A similar sentiment emerged in the closing remarks of Ms. Justice Baker: ‘When we look at what panned out today with the level of expertise, concerns and questions... there is constant talk, constant action and there are people willing to do what it takes.’
Attracta Uí Bhroin (Manager and Law Officer of the Environmental Law Ireland Initiative) closed the conference with a reminder that ‘We are at the precipice of our future, and we simply cannot fail... Access to justice is the holiest of holies’.