An Taisce has launched a legal challenge to a nuclear power plant being built on the Bristol Channel in the UK.

Judicial proceedings were started by An Taisce in London yesterday to challenge the legality of the decision by the UK Government to build the plant at Hinkley point. It is about 240 kilometres from the Irish coast.

According to The Irish Times, the legal papers challenge the compliance of the decision with the EU environmental impact assessment directive and the UK's own regulations.

In a statement An Taisce said that despite the Irish coast being closer to the plant than some parts of the UK, the Irish people were not consulted on the plans.

An Taisce says that consultation would allow both regional governments and the potentially effected population in Ireland to contribute to the consultation and decision-making process and would allow the UK to "properly and fully consider the impacts and effects of the plant across boundaries".

Rosa Curling from Leigh Day who is representing An Taisce, said "The failure to consult or consider these transboundary impacts renders the decision to grant permission for the nuclear power plant unlawful and we will be seeking to challenge it in the High Court to give the Irish public a voice".

While spokesperson for An Taisce James Nix added "This case is not about interfering with the right of the UK authorities to make their own decisions, nor about being pro or anti nuclear. It is about ensuring that the rights and interests of the Irish public and their concern for their environment are not excluded from those decisions, and that the Irish public is properly consulted in accordance with the law on a project of this nature".