When these proceedings commenced on 20 April, 2016, the Environment
Management Act, 1996, the Act throughout the judgment, was the governing
legislation. The Environment Management Act, 2017, the 2017 Act in thisjudgment,
repealing the 1996 Act, was probably the relevant legislation at the time of the
judgment on the judicial review. It is certainly the legislation on the date ofthe order
appealed from of 14 June, 2018 and at the hearing of the appeal when, reserving
judgment, this Court unanimously dismissed the appeal.
The later legislation creates the Environmental Authority (section 7 (1) ofthe
2017 Act) and a body corporate (section 7 (2) of the 2017 Act) where it allocates
most powers to the authority held by the Minister responsible ofEnvironmental and,
the Minister in the course ofthe judgment, the Director ofEnvironmental Affairs in
the Act, the Director in this judgment, leaving most powers of inspectors, analysts
and legal agencies intact. The 2017 Act, replaced the Environmental Appeals
Tribunal in the Act, with the Environmental Tribunal. The change was only in
nomenclature -the tribunal retaining substantially the same functions and subject to
structural and functional changes introduced by the repeal of the 1996 Act by the