The Gazette 1996

GAZETTE

APRIL /MAY 1996

anything other than a minefield of technicalities, as the interests of conflicting sections of society are catered for, but Dr. Dowling's book is as readable as could reasonably be expected and is a welcome addition to the ranks of books on Irish law.

Northern Ireland Planning Law

Section 1 contains the primary Irish legislation. In addition to containing in their entirety the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act, 1977 and the amending Act of 1990, this section also reproduces the more relevant sections of other Acts, and the relevant legislation under the headings of Provision of Water Supplies, Treatment of Sewage and Control of Water Pollution in the Fisheries Acts, 1959-1990. In all instances there are generous annotations with amendments, definitions, cross- references and notes. Section 2 contains the secondary Irish legislation dealing with a total of 22 Statutory Instruments covering the spectrum from water for human consumption to fisheries, chemical pollutants and quality of bathing waters. Section 3 covers E.U. legislation and identifies and deals with a total of 19 Council Directives. There are a total of five appendices. These contain precedent documents relevant to the granting of discharge licences by a Local Authority, a reproduction of the First Schedule to the Environmental Protection Act, 1992, and a list of Designated Areas under water quality legislation. If you ever stayed awake at night wondering what exactly "lindane" might be, the fine index in this book will lead you to the explanation that it "means a product containing at least 99% of the y-isomer of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - hexachlorocyclohexane". A "Table of Cases" is included which I feel does less than justice to the text and omits at least some of the useful cases referred to in the text. The author references the case of Noel Considine -v- Shannon Regional Fisheries Board and Others ( 1 9 9 4- 1 ILRM 499) which was a High Court decision, finding that a defendant who has been acquitted in the District Court of charges under certain sections of the Fisheries Acts is not immune from re- trial on appeal by the Fishery Board. ! This case has not been included in the Table of Cases nor has it been mentioned that it is currently under appeal. The Table of Cases includes the case of Maguire -v- Shannon Regional Fisheries Board which finds

by J A Dowling Gill & McMillan; 306 pp + Index; £35. This is the first comprehensive text book on Northern Ireland Planning Law published since the major statutory provisions of 1972. While Planning Law is not likely to be an area of activity that practitioners from outside the jurisdiction would lightly engage in, nonetheless the book may well be of considerable assistance to practitioners in this jurisdiction in giving them an opportunity of comparing how a particular planning problem has been dealt with in a neighbouring jurisdiction, though one with a very different system of planning control. By reason of the relatively modest size of Northern Ireland, planning control is much more centralised than it is in the Republic of Ireland or England and Wales. Planning control is vested now in the Department of the Environment which has a duty to "formulate and coordinate policy for securing orderly and consistent development of land and the planning of that development". Thus the Department has the obligation to prepare development plans and in so doing to consult with the District Councils. Applications for planning permission are made to the Department. There is an independent Planning Appeals Commission to whom appeals against various decisions of the Department may be taken. An unusual feature of the Northern Ireland situation is the power and indeed obligation in certain circumstances of the Appeals Commission to hold public enquiries to consider objections to a development plan or the alteration, repeal or replacement of a development plan. As a former practitioner it would be natural to expect Dr. Dowling's book to be user friendly and the reader will not be disappointed in this regard. It is difficult to imagine that planning legislation and control in any democratic society is likely to be

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"Inland Waters" Environmental Legislation

Edited by Donal O'Laoghaire, B.L. Published by Butterworths; 510pp; £51.50. With the ever-increasing cascade of Directives emanating from the European Community, and the domestic legislation required to be enacted in consequence, it has become very difficult for the specialist and well nigh impossible for the ordinary practitioner to keep aware of all the extant legislation. The law and practice relating to pollution control in Ireland as prepared by Yvonne Scannell encompassed in its considerations the entire environment, including not only inland waters but also the sea, the shores, the atmosphere, noise and vibration, and went on to deal with the law and practice relating to protection of the environment, in a very comprehensive, precise and erudite fashion. "Inland Waters", as is stated in its preface, "is intended to make National and European environmental legislation on inland waters available in an accessible and easy to use format". I consider that it has more than excellently achieved its stated objective. While this book of course includes legislation relevant to control of pollution, it deals comprehensively with the entire legislation relevant to inland waters. People whose work requires them to have an intimate knowledge of the statutory provisions in regard to any aspect of inland waters now have the benefit of a publication which is devoted exclusively to this subject.

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