The Government should abolish the €20 fee for making submissions on planning applications after it was ruled illegal by the European Commission, according to the Labour Party's environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore.
In a case brought by Irish environmental groups, the Commission has issued a "reasoned opinion" that the charge is not legal under EU law, and said it would take Ireland to the European Court of Justice unless it complied within two months.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said it was studying the decision and would respond to the Commission by the end of March. He also noted it related to cases requiring an environmental impact assessment.
The Commission found that it was contrary to the EU directive on environmental impact assessment to charge the public a fee to submit comments, and it rejected Ireland's argument that the charge was purely administrative.
"This decision utterly vindicates the Labour Party's continued opposition to the charge, and the PD-inspired Bill which we described as a 'charge on democracy' when it was going through the Dáil [in 2000\]," Mr Gilmore commented.
"The Government must immediately amend the existing legislation they brought forward establishing this illegal charge. Further, they must state that they will refund all fees paid to date by individuals who made objections."
The Green Party has also welcomed the Commission's ruling. Its environment spokesman, Mr Ciarán Cuffe TD, said he was delighted the Government had been "rebuked" by Brussels over "this botched attempt to limit the public's rights".
Calling on the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, to drop the charge immediately, he warned that current planning applications "may be at risk of review" if the public was not given back the right to express their views without paying a €20 fee. Everyone who had to pay the fee should also be reimbursed, Mr Cuffe said.
"It is time that this Government stopped pandering to big business and started listening to the voices of the general public. This is a good day for democracy and for the environment."
In its "reasoned opinion" on a complaint by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) on behalf of 68 community and environmental groups, the European Commission noted that Ireland was the only EU member-state to require the payment of such a fee. It also found that submissions from the public were helpful in enabling planning authorities to make informed decisions, and to charge people for making such submissions represented a reversal of the "polluter pays" principle.
The Commission quoted extensively from submissions made to the then minister for the environment, Mr Dempsey, during the public consultation over the 2000 Planning Act, using a dossier obtained by FIE under the Freedom of Information Act.
The "reasoned opinion" quotes from anglers' groups, the Irish Georgian Society, the Irish Planning Institute, the Royal Town Planning Institute and An Taisce. The General Council of County Councils and 14 local authorities passed resolutions opposing the fee.
With regard to the "nominal" size of the €20 charge, the Commission pointed out that the fee plus an observation to An Bord Pleanála would amount to €65, which was over 50 per cent of the standard rate of the social welfare payments including old age pensions.
A spokesman for the FIE welcomed the Commission's action and called on the Government to bring the Planning Act into line and restore citizens' rights of participation in the planning process.
