The Irish Environmental Network

The European Court of Justice has today ruled that Ireland’s uniform thresholds for environmental impact assessment of rural projects ‘exceeds a member states’ discretion’.

The judgment says that projects for the restructuring of rural land holdings and projects for the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agricultural may, regardless of size, result in the loss of field boundaries, and therefore of hedgerows, a loss which is ‘liable to have adverse effects on biodiversity in the countryside and significant effects on the natural environment’.

Where stone walls predominate these ‘may have archaeological importance’.

The Judgment said that ‘The use of uniform thresholds means that no examination at all is carried out in respect of the environmental effects of projects which are, however, likely to have significant effects.’

Ireland had argued that if the Court required an alternative strategy to implement the relevant provisions of the directive it ‘would have very significant implications for Irish agriculture’, particularly given that ‘one of the Irish Government’s objectives is to minimise the regulatory burden on all sectors of the economy, particularly the agricultural sector.’

The effect of the judgment will be to greatly strengthen the requirements for Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out by land owners or occupiers on any developments that may impact on the environment, regardless of the scale.

The Court noted that, given that the average Irish field size of 2.4 hectares, a project combining 40 fields ‘which would entail the destruction of numerous hedgerows and other means of enclosure, could be granted consent without having been subject to an environmental impact assessment, although it is such as to have significant effects on biodiversity.’

The judgment also rejected the Irish threshold for EIAs of 20 hectares for water management projects for agriculture, including irrigation and land drainage projects, and the threshold for fish farms.

The environmental group Friends of the Irish Environment welcomed the judgment, which it said would ‘greatly increase the level of protection for the Ireland’s natural heritage.’

Verification and further information:

Tony Lowes 027 73131 / 087 2176316

Tony Lowes of Friends of the Irish Environment has produced a podcast asking where the Green Party has gone. It makes for interesting listening.

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Friends of the Irish Environment

An Irish environmental group has called for a kick start to a pesticide ‘National Action Plan’ after a leaked EU Report on pesticides due to be published shortly reveals that a record proportion of 49% of fruits and vegetables sold in the EU are contaminated with pesticides. [1, 9.1]

23 pesticides were detected at levels high enough to present an acute risk to adults – according to the EU’s own risk calculations. The results are based on the analysis of 65,810 samples of fruit and vegetables, cereals, and processed products. Friends of the Irish Environment have published the report on its website.

Of 84 apples on sale in Ireland, 61 had pesticide resides at or over the MRL[Maximum Residue Levels].

The group says that unacceptable resides of pesticides in food have increased rapidly in Ireland. In 2000 there were 6 different pesticides residues above the Maximum Residue Levels [MRL]. In 2005 there were 27. Fruit and vegetable products had an overall failure rate of 1.2% in 2000. That has now increased to 3.2%. [3]

The Irish figures for 2006, released in April 2008, are often even above the EU average.

The percentage of cereal samples containing pesticides residues sold in Ireland doubled from 2005 – 2006 from 17% to 38%.with 11% over the MRL [3; 1, Table D]. This is more than 15 times the EU average. [4, Table D]

More than twice as many Irish fruit and vegetables were over the MRL limits compared to fruits and vegetables imported from our European partners, according to Ireland’s latest ‘Pesticide Use in Food’ [4, p.7]. 51.7% of the fresh fruit and vegetables sold in Ireland had detectable pesticide resides. [4, p.5]

Of 84 apples on sale in Ireland, 61 had pesticide resides at or over the MRL. [4, Table 1]

A recent EU study ranked pesticides as Europe’s number one food issue with consumers expressing more concern on pesticides than any other topic. [5] FIE says that increasing frequency of pesticide residues supports the Green Party’s call to move the control of pesticides from the Department of Agriculture to the Food and Safety Authority. [7]

FIE has written to the Minister for State for Agriculture and Foods, Trevor Sergeant, urging him to bring the pesticides under the Food and Safety Authority to parallel the European Commission, where pesticides legislation is covered by the Directorate for Health and Consumer Protection and by the Directorate for Environment.

They are also seeking a ‘kick start’ to a National Action Plan for pesticides with explicitly mandatory reduction targets. National Actions Plans are required under the new EU legislation due for a 2nd reading in the European Parliament on 2 November. FIE has asked for the opening of a public consultation period in advance of the Plan.

FIE has also written to Ireland’s 13 MEPs drawing their attention to the leaked Report and the latest Irish figures asking them to resist pressure to weaken pesticide controls in the current EU parliamentary debate.

The group says that ‘recent intense lobbying here and across Europe seeking laxer controls by farmers is misdirected. Unless farmers adopt Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and change their methods, they will remain stuck on a treadmill of increasing pesticide use as resistance increases and the beneficial natural controls are killed off.’

Further Information:
Tony Lowes 027-73131 / 087 217 6316
Henriette Christensen, Policy Coordinator, Pesticide Action Network, PAN Europe, tel: +32/2 289 13 08, henriette@pan-europe.info
See also: PAN [Pesticides Action Network]
http://www.pan-europe.info/Highest%20ever%20levels%20of%20pesticides%20in%20food%20%2815%20October%29.pdf
Report and backup documentation on FIE website:
http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironment.net/cmsfiles/files/library/pesticide_documentation.pdf

[1] Monitoring of Pesticide Residues in Products of Plant Origin in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, DRAFT COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT, 8 September 2008

[2] Annex I, Monitoring of Pesticide Residues in Products of Plant Origin in the European Union, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, DRAFT COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT, 8 September 2008

[3] National Food Residue Database, Monitoring Programes 2000 – 2005

[4] 2006 Pesticides Residues in Food, DoAFF, April 2008

[5] Report on surveillance of infant food for pesticide residues. Food Safety Authority of Ireland, October, 2006

[6] Risk issues, Eurobarometer, September 2008

[7] ‘Greens would transfer food safety’, Irish Times, 3 May 2002