Ireland leads call for EU to adopt Nature Restoration Law

Ireland is leading a call for European Union member states to vote to adopt the controversial Nature Restoration Law at the next EU council meeting in June.

A letter urging fellow ministers across the EU to approve the law, sent by Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan and Minister for Nature and Heritage Malcolm Noonan, has now been co-signed by ministers from ten other countries.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Noonan said the law cannot fail.

"If it does come down to the case where the Council of Ministers don't support it, I think we're in real trouble.

"Ireland will proceed anyway, we've already committed to a nature restoration plan, and we will go ahead with that but it needs to happen on a European scale. It's too important for our food security for rural communities, for climate and for public health and well being. It can't fail."

The controversial law, which aims to restore degraded habitats, would set legal requirements for rewetting peatlands and restoring nature across the EU, including in Ireland.

The negotiating mandate for the law was originally approved, but only by qualified majority, at the European Environment Council in June last year.