The Irish Environmental Law Association was established in 1993 with the following aims:-

• To promote for the benefit of the public generally, the enhancement and conservation of the environment.

• To advance the education of the public in all matters relating to the development, teaching, application and practice of law relating to the environment.

• To encourage collaboration between all those interested and concerned with environmental law.

• To collect and distribute information in relation to environmental law.

• To review, advise and comment on issues of environmental law and its application.

The Association is open to both lawyers and non-lawyers, although, the primary focus is in relation to legal aspects of environmental regulation and practice.  The Association, since its inception, has held a number of meetings over a very broad range of topics from speakers from a very broad range of disciplines relating to planning and the environment.  The topics covered included, Director's, Officer's and Manager's Liability under Environmental Law, Freedom of Access to Information on the Environment, Civil Liability for Environmental Damage and Environmental Issues Facing Business.

The Association has four meetings per annum, which take place in the Law School, Trinity College. A speaker usually addresses the meeting on his/her specialised subject and the topic is then opened to the floor for questions and discussion to facilitate an exchange of views and sharing of knowledge from people with different perspectives and backgrounds on the topic.  This is followed by short talks on recent Irish case law and legislative developments and EU case law and legislative law developments.  Handouts of all of the papers are given to the Association’s members