The European Commission is taking Ireland back to Europe's highest court for failing to implement an earlier court judgment on the government's failure to protect the natural and man-made heritage of the countryside.
The complaint revolves around the lack of proper environmental impact assessments and the subsequent damage to wetlands and other archaeological sites.
Brussels is calling for fines of €4,000 per day for the period between the first ruling by the European Court of Justice and any second court ruling, and a penalty of more than €33,000 per day for each day after a second ruling until the infringement ends.
The proceedings relate to an EU directive ensuring that proper environmental impact assessments are carried out before major developments take place so that the public are aware of what the effects of the development will be on the landscape.
In particular the directive is designed for sensitive locations such as sites protected under European nature legislation or landscapes of archaeological significance.
The original ruling against Ireland was in November 2008.
The Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice found that the thresholds for undertaking impact assessments for certain types of projects were too high and didn't take enough account of sensitive landscape features.
According to a statement issued this morning by the European Commission, wetlands and other habitats were lost and archaeological remains destroyed without any environmental impact assessments ever being required.
Under the government's approach, only projects over 100 hectares are subject to environmental impact assessments. However, the European Commission suggests that this threshold is too high, and that smaller projects can cause just as much damage.
The Commission sent a letter urging Ireland to comply with the Court ruling in March 2010.
However, more than two years after the judgment, Ireland has failed to adopt any legislation to resolve the issue.
It is understood the original complaint against Ireland was made in 2001 and related to a trial salmon farm on the Kenmare estuary in Co Kerry.
The Government was taken to the European Court of Justice in 2006 and it's first ruling against Ireland was in 2008.
Under the 1985 directive, member states are allowed to set a minimum threshold under which rural projects do not require an environmental impact assessment. But this is only if the projects do not have a negative impact on the environment.
In order to assess whether a development would have such an effect, planning authorities must look at certain conditions including the nature, location and cumulative environmental impact of the planned development.
In the first case taken to the Court of Justice, the European Commission ruled that Ireland failed to fully take into account the individual merits of each development based on these conditions.
The case against Ireland referred to the Court of Justice by the European Commission is separate to the case relating to the M3/Tara project, and whether a proper environmental impact assessment was carried out on that occasion.
