Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992

99H
99H

F217[Powers of High Court or Circuit Court in relation to activities in contravention of this Act.

15

99H.(1) Where, on application by any person to the High Court or the Circuit Court, that Court is satisfied that an activity is being carried on in contravention of the requirements of this Act, it may by order

(a) require the person in charge of the activity to do, refrain from or cease doing any specified act (including to refrain from or cease making any specified emission),

(b) make such other provision, including provision in relation to the payment of costs, as the Court considers appropriate.

(2) An application for an order under this section shall be by motion, and the High Court or the Circuit Court when considering the matter may make such interim or interlocutory order as it considers appropriate.

(3) (a) An application under this section to the Circuit Court shall be made to the judge of the Circuit Court for the circuit in which the activity concerned is being carried on.

(b) The Circuit Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine an application under this section which it is satisfied it is appropriate for it to deal with as a court of local and limited jurisdiction and, for the purpose of the court's satisfying itself of that matter, the matters to which it shall have regard include

(i) the nature and extent of the environmental pollution, if any, which it is alleged is being caused by the activity concerned, and

(ii) the estimated cost of complying with the order to which the application relates.

(c) If, in relation to an application under this section to the Circuit Court, that court becomes of the opinion, during the hearing of the application, that it is not appropriate for the Circuit Court to deal with the application, it may, if it so thinks fit, transfer the application to the High Court.

(d) Paragraph (c) is without prejudice to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court to determine an application under this section which, at the time of the making of the application, it was satisfied it had jurisdiction to deal with.

(e) Where an application is transferred under paragraph (c) to the High Court, the High Court shall be deemed to have made any order made under subsection (2) by the court from which it is so transferred in the proceedings in relation to the application.

(4) An application for an order under this section may be made whether or not there has been a prosecution for an offence under this Act in relation to the activity concerned and shall not prejudice the initiation of a prosecution for an offence under this Act in relation to the activity concerned.

(5) Without prejudice to the powers of the High Court or the Circuit Court to enforce an order under this section, a person who fails to comply with an order under this section shall be guilty of an offence.]

Annotations

Amendments:

F217

Inserted (12.07.2004) by Protection of the Environment Act 2003 (27/2003), s. 15, S.I. No. 393 of 2004.