Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 25 Jun 1992

Vol. 421 No. 6

Written Answers. - EC Directive Implementation.

Roger T. Garland

Question:

127 Mr. Garland asked the Minister for the Environment the reason his Department have not implemented EC Directive 80/68/EEC; and if he agrees that its lack of implementation has caused an adverse effect on pollution control in this country.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment (Miss Harney)

The provisions of Directive 80/68/EEC have largely been catered for by the Local Government (Water Pollution) Acts, 1977 and 1990, and by the Local Government (Water Pollution) Regulations, 1978.

Regulations which I intend to make shortly will, inter alia, make provision for those limited aspects of the Directive which are not fully catered for in present legislation; in particular, the Regulations will provide specifically for the results of prior investigations to be submitted to local authorities with licence applications for discharges to groundwaters.

The information available to me suggests that the quality of our groundwaters generally continue to be of a high quality and that, where pollution problems exist, they do not arise from any non-compliance with the Directive in question.