The European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007, as amended, hereafter referred to as ‘the AIE Regulations’, give legal rights to those seeking to access information on the environment from public authorities.
Subject to certain exceptions, information relating to the environment held by, or for, ComReg must be made available on request to any person.
The AIE Regulations provide a definition of environmental information and outline the manner in which requests for information may be submitted to public authorities. The AIE Regulations also provide for a formal appeals procedure in the event that a person is unhappy with a decision on their request.
Applications for Access to Information on the Environment should be made to:
Information Access Executive,
Commission for Communications Regulation,
One Dockland Central,
Guild Street,
Dublin 1,
D01 E4X0.
Email: aie@comreg.ie
When making a request for information under the AIE Regulations, you are required to:
Normally you will be notified of the decision on your request within one month of its receipt.
If you consider that your original request for environmental information was refused wholly or partially, or was otherwise not properly dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the AIE Regulations, you may request an internal review of that decision, in whole or part. Your internal review request should be made within one month of receipt of ComReg’s decision, or the date on which ComReg’s decision was required to be notified to you.
The internal reviewer will be of the same or higher rank that the original ComReg decision-maker and you will be notified of the internal review decision within one month of receipt of your request for internal review.
If you are unhappy with the internal review decision, you may appeal to the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information (OCEI) against ComReg’s decision. Your request should be made to the OCEI within one month of receiving ComReg’s internal review decision, or the date on which ComReg’s internal review decision was required to be notified to you. Further information on submitting an appeal to the OCEI is available here.
There is no initial fee for making a request or access to environmental information under the AIE Regulations. There is also no fee for applying to ComReg for an internal review.
Further, ComReg may not charge for access to registers or lists of environmental information or for the examination of such information in situ.
The fee for making an appeal to the Commissioner for Environmental Information is €50. A reduced fee or €15 applies if you are:
If you have any queries please contact Information Access Executive at 01 804 9769 or aie@comreg.ie