I have received a letter from the person referred to; an interim reply has issued and a final reply will issue shortly. I am satisfied that the Environmental Protection Agency is fulfilling its environmental protection functions under the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, and that it properly and fully discharged the task given to it in 1995 – by the then Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry – to co-ordinate an investigation by four statutory agencies into reported animal health problems in the Askeaton area. The report arising from the investigation reflects the outcome of four individual investigations: on animal health by the veterinary laboratory services of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development; on soil, herbage, feed and water by Teagasc; on human health by the Mid-Western Health Board; and on environmental quality by the EPA. Issues in relation to the individual elements of the overall investigation are matters for the organisations concerned. While responsibility for the environmental quality investigation must appropriately be borne by the EPA itself, I consider that the agency has completed its task in a thorough, professional and competent manner.
