Enforcing the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive in Ireland: Evolution of the Standard of Judicial Review

The specific characteristics of each national system of judicial review reflect the indigenous legal framework and well-established administrative culture. It is necessary, therefore, to contextualize judicial review against the background of the idiosyncrasies of the local legal and administrative systems and what the national system regards as 'unlawful' decision making. An analysis of the contemporary jurisprudence of the Irish courts - in the specific context of enforcement of environmental impact assessment law - reveals a complex web of principles, which continue to evolve and to be influenced by European Union (EU) law. The article maps the development of these principles and assesses whether the standard of review (or the intensity of scrutiny) applied by the Irish courts is compatible with the EU law principle of effective judicial protection.