Cliona Kimbers’ garden is brighter than day in the dark nights when the Luas tracks behind her Dublin house are lit up.
She says that the lighting would be enough to light a football field. It is too intense to be useful.
Persistent light pollution can cause severe health problems for people.
It is difficult to enforce these laws. Even for a barrister such as Ms Kimber.
She is chairperson of the Climate Bar Association. This group of barristers is concerned with how environmental justice is or isn’t delivered in Ireland.
It is a vast and growing area that has been the subject of high-profile litigation against polluting companies and inactive governments around the globe.
While the big cases may be fascinating, it is the details that the association wants as a first step.
A tree is felled without a license, a hedgerow is removed out of season, a grass verge brimming in wildflowers is doused using weed-killer and a river is regularly polluted. No steps are taken to stop it from happening again.
Ms Kimber states that there is a lack of teeth in the current enforcement mechanisms for environmental regulations. It’s not a viable system right now.
She believes that resources are part and parcel of the problem. Public bodies like the National Parks and Wildlife Service and county councils have limited resources and time to pursue prosecutions.
However, she believes that the bigger barrier is the limiting of the law’s scope to only criminal matters.
Although there are laws that prohibit cutting hedgerows outside of season, it is a crime.
Who is going to impose criminal law on their neighbors?
She says that it is not common for an ordinary person to want to go to criminal court over such a matter.
Although there may be civil remedies, this too is a complicated route.
In the past, law dealt with situations in which I did something to you or you did something to me. It was not everyone’s business.
This is not true when the environment is affected. It affects my life, yes, because Im angry and concerned about the events, but I’m probably not directly hurt.
Yet, everyone is affected by the environment because it is for everyone.
It’s complicated, and you might have to go to court. The system is almost designed to keep people from going to court.
You can’t get a judge for a hearing, there is no investment in judges. There are queues for everything.
The Climate Bar Association has a proposal for a new way of enforcing the environmental law.
Ms. Kimber used to lecture on environmental law. But her special area of practice is employment law. She views the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), as a model in dispute resolution that could also be applied to the environment.
The criminal sanctions can be retained if they are required in an extremely serious case. But there are many other mechanisms for enforcement of the law. She says. The WRC uses mediationandadjudication, and it can fine or order reinstatement.
It’s less intimidating and more friendly than confrontational.
It provides personnel with all the expertise but is low-cost and easy to use by ordinary people.
Other mechanisms, such as a penalty point system, could also be employed.
Alternative mechanisms are used in family law, and the Private Residential Tenancies Board. However, the concept is well-proven. We need to think about how we can move the legal systems forward to accommodate environmental disputes which are only going up.
Ms Kimber believes that an information deficit can also limit citizen involvement in environmental protection.
People don’t know where to go. Citizens Information is a great place to go if you have a welfare or employment issue. However, they do not have any information on environmental rights. So how can the average person play their part in enforcing them?
The association will present its proposals at a symposium on January 21.
Other projects are being undertaken by the members, including greening their buildings and surrounding areas, as well as providing pro-bono advice and research.
Recently, they wrote a bill for Native Irish Honey Bee Society. If passed, it would ban importation of bees that threaten the survival of native species.
To wide support, the bill was introduced in Seanad by Green Senator Vincent Martin. Ms Kimber explains that our role was to ensure that a ban could not be implemented in violation of EU trade laws.
Science tells us that a ban is necessary, and we must listen to the science regarding climate and biodiversity. The solutions aren’t just in science; they are also in law. That is the legal space we want.