Absence of licence halts review of Bantry Bay kelp appeal
Justice Deirdre Murphy of the High Court has ruled (July 29) that the court has no jurisdiction to carry out a Judicial Review of the licence granted to BioAtlantis to mechanically harvest kelp in Bantry Bay.
This decision is because government ‘has yet to fulfill all the legal procedures required to issue such a licence,’ Bantry Bay, Protect our Native Kelp Forest, said in a statement following the hearing.
“There is in effect no licence,” remarked Justice Deirdre Kennedy.
Access to information
Justice Murphy raised concerns over requirements in the Foreshore Act 1933, which was revised in 2014 to comply with the Aarhus Convention. (Ireland signed up the Aarhus Convention in 1998 but took until 2013 to ratify.
The Act directs governments to keep the public informed regarding environmental consequences when certain foreshore licences are issued.
‘The Minister must publish a notice in Iris Oifigiúil (the official State gazette) announcing his decision to aware such a licence,’ group added.
‘No such notice regarding the licence issued to BioAtlantis Aquamarine….has yet been published in Iris Oifigiúil. Thus, Justice Murphy determined, the process of issuing the licence is still ongoing.’
Justice Murphy however made no ruling on the arguments presented by either side.
‘Neither side can claim “victory”; it is more true to say that the case was dismissed on a technicality. Our legal arguments challenging the validity of the licence have in no way been approved; and the exact status, in law, of the licence drawn up by the Minister remains undetermined.’
What happens next is uncertain, except that the ruling will most probably be appealed; however without a licence, ‘there can be no mechanical extraction of kelp from Bantry Bay.
‘As a result, our marine ecosystems are more safe today than they were yesterday.
Background
In November 2017, Minister of State Damien English approved a foreshore licence to cut 1,860 acres of wild kelp forest in Bantry Bay which protesters say would be the ‘largest mechanical extraction of seaweed ever attempted in Ireland or Britain’.
A case that could determine the future for Ireland’s seaweed industries was heard in the High Court on May 14. Impact on the marine environment, consequences for accelerated coastal erosion, degeneration of tourism and potential threat to the livelihoods of over fifty inshore fishermen,were among their concerns.
‘Government has seen fit to issue this licence without any Environmental Impact Assessment, without any independent monitoring system and without any effective public consultation’, the group contended.
John Casey, a member of the group, also took an injunction against BioAtlantis which was heard before Justice Murphy but this was ultimately refused. Mr Casey then initiated the Judicial Review.
“This is not the story’s end. We expect various parties will appeal the decision to the High Court. To the best of our knowledge, the High Court’s decision appears to mean that BioAtlantis has never held a valid licence because government has yet to complete all the formalities required to issue one.”
