Vol. 467 No. 7
173 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for the Environment the plans, if any, he has to introduce legislation to rectify the perceived bias towards industry inherent in the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, and to address the allegedly citizen-unfriendly interpretation by the Enviornmental Protection Agency of the regulations. [14405/96]
The Environmental Protection Agency is required under its legislation, in carrying out its functions, to have regard to the need for a high standard of environmental protection, the promotion of sustainable development, and precaution in relation to potentially harmful emissions, and to ensure, in so far as is practicable, that a proper balance is achieved between the need to protect the enviornment, and the cost of such protection, and the need for infrastructural, economic and social progress and development.
