Making Environmental Research Data Publicly Available – Experiences from Ireland

Abstract

Directive 2003/4/EC “Public Access to Environmental Information” (PAES, 2003) instructs public authorities to make available and disseminate environmental information to the general public to the widest extent possible. It is the responsibility of Member States to determine the practical arrangements under which such information is made available. These arrangements shall guarantee that the information is effectively and easily accessible and made available through publicly accessible channels (ie the Internet). Ireland introduced the legislation for this Directive in 2005 with further guidance published recently (see DoEHLG, 2008). This paper discusses our experiences at the Irish Environmental Protection Agency in our efforts to improve Internet-based public access to environmental data and information generated by environmental research programmes in Ireland. In particular we focus on how public access to these data flows can be maintained efficiently while maximising the potential re-use value of the research resources themselves.