Press Release: Environment: Commission closes two nature protection cases against Ireland

The European Commission closed two long-running cases of nature protection infringements in Ireland. The cases resulted in judgments by the European Court of Justice in 2001 and 2002. One related to a 1995 deadline to complete a list of nature sites to protect Ireland's most endangered natural habitats and species as part of Natura 2000 – a Europe-wide network of protected areas set up to protect biodiversity and halt species loss. The other concerned measures to recover vegetation in Irish uplands that were extensively damaged by overstocking of sheep from the 1980s onwards. The Commission decisions followed notification by Ireland of over 400 important nature sites and the adoption of measures to restrict sheep numbers on fragile soils to environmentally sustainable levels.