Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 8 Apr 1993

Vol. 429 No. 5

Written Answers. - Environmental Protection Agency.

Noel Ahern

Question:

39 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for the Environment the reason the Environmental Health Officers Association did not get an appointment on the Board of the Environmental Protection Agency and are not included as an organisation for nominating to the advisory committee; the direction the agency is talking; and whether it will have human health and welfare as its major concern.

Minister for the Environment (Mr. M. Smith)

Appointment to the posts of director general and directors have been made by the Government, in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions, from candidates recommended by an independent selection committee. The legislation does not provide for the making of these appointments on the basis of nominations by bodies or associations or otherwise on a representative basis.

Health and local authority interests are represented on panels of nominating organisations, established by regulations, for the purposes of appointing the members of the advisory committee of the Environmental Protection Agency. While it was not possible to include all interested organisations in these panels, I am satisfied that those prescribed represent a balanced range of professions, organisations and interests.

I intend formally to establish the Environmental Protection Agency as soon as the director general and other directors have had an opportunity to complete preliminary arrangements. The agency will take on, on a phased basis, the wide range of functions assigned to it by legislation. While the primary concern of the agency will be with the protection of the natural environment, of course this will be relevant to human health in so far as the latter may be endangered by environmental pollution.