European Letter:Minister for the Environment John Gormley will get his first taste of European action this Thursday when he sits down with his 26 EU counterparts for talks in Luxembourg.
He is unlikely to be impressed with the drab Council of Ministers building at Plateau de Kirchberg, where ministers will be holed up until late into the evening discussing policy. But it is appropriate that his first environment council will take place in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which also hosts the European Court of Justice.
Ireland has been dragged before the court on numerous occasions for breaking EU directives on everything from water quality to failing to protect endangered species.
"Some cases will be cleared up relatively quickly, others can continue to the stage of court proceedings and beyond," says an EU official.
The most important cases are those where the court has found against Ireland but the Government has failed to enact new laws or take action to meet its concern. These so-called Article 228 cases - named after the article in the EU treaties dealing with them - could lead to huge monetary fines if no action is taken within an appropriate time.
For example, last December the commission proposed that Italy be fined a lump sum of €19 million and ongoing daily fines worth €192,844 if there was no clean-up at the Rodano landfill. It also asked the court to impose a fine on France of €38 million, plus a daily penalty of €366,744, for failing to adopt legislation on genetically modified organisms. The message is clear: environmental crimes will be punished.
There are eight outstanding Article 228 Irish cases, including the infamous nitrates case that has seen the Republic fail to comply with an EU directive for 12 years.
This piece of EU legislation was introduced to protect groundwater from agricultural pollution but has been fiercely opposed by the farming community.
The Government has fought a long and bitter battle with the commission to get derogations agreed for farmers.
Last year a deal was finally agreed, although the case can only be settled if the Government introduces tough new penalties that it has promised for any farmers that break the rules.
Half of the eight outstanding Article 228 cases involve water pollution or the threat of water pollution, which goes some way to explain the situation in Galway where many people do not have a safe water supply.
But it is not only Ireland's poor record of meeting EU legal commitments that will exercise Mr Gormley during his tenure, he will also have to make progress in curbing Ireland's ballooning CO2 emissions.
The Republic currently has one of the worst records in Europe on greenhouse gas emissions, which currently stand at 25.4 per cent above 1990 levels. Under the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland is only allowed an increase of 13 per cent in emissions by 2012, compared to 1990 levels.
"Ireland often makes the right noises about the environment but they don't actually lead with a positive environmental agenda," says Katharine Mill of the Greenpeace European Unit, who cites trenchant Irish opposition to new EU chemicals' legislation introduced last year that sought to protect human health as a pertinent example.
Sensitive to the needs of the pharmaceutical and technology industries, the Government lobbied furiously in Brussels to water down the Reach directive, which requires chemical firms to test and register up to 30,000 substances.
Ireland was second only to Poland in its lobbying against a directive aimed at protecting health, according to Mill.
The tricky choices for Gormley begin immediately on Thursday when he must take positions on two sensitive issues: genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and incinerators.
The council is attempting to decide the proposed waste framework directive, which gives a positive classification for waste incinerators. Given Mr Gormley's vocal opposition to the proposed Poolbeg incinerator in his own constituency he may be forced to oppose the proposed waste directive, even though it should improve the way waste is handled.
Another difficult issue at the council is a vote on putting on the market a new GMO potato. At a previous council in December 2006, Ireland abstained in a vote on whether to block a decision or give the go ahead for the potato.
But a senior commission official suggested yesterday that Ireland's new Green Party minister could give Ireland's vote to those countries against the GMO potato.
Green Party supporters will follow the Minister's actions with great interest, as will the general public, who will hope Gormley can restore Ireland's environmental reputation in Europe.