Pilot Study of Water Governance in Ireland

The objective of this report is to assess the government progress in implementation of the access principles in water sector. The authors applied the research methodology developed by The Access Initiative (www.accessinitiative.org), which supports implementation of principle 10 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The project examines three cases dealing with access to information - a scheme of water-quality monitoring; public participation - a water treatment project; and access to justice - the denial of access to information and prevention of environmental harm. It also assesses two general capacity building measures and makes recommendations on how to improve implementation of the Aarhus principles in Ireland.