Amendment No. 8 is in the name of the Minister. Amendments Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14 are related. Therefore, amendments Nos. 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14 may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.
SECTION 9.
I move amendment No. 8:
In page 14, subsection (3) (b), line 44, after "infrastructure" to insert "(which may include the monitoring and assessment of the effects on the marine environment of the carrying on of any such activities)".
These amendments relate to the powers and functions of authorised officers. Section 9 of the Bill facilitates the appointment of authorised officers to inspect energy infrastructure. This section is necessary to enable the Minister to monitor exploration and production, safety and the control and prevention of pollution arising from operations conducted under licence or lease.
Currently, the Minister's powers to inspect energy infrastructure, exploration and production platforms, gas installations, pipelines, etc., are fragmented. The Minister will have a general power through authorised officers to oversee energy operations capable of being a source of risk to the public or the environment and to ensure they are conducted in conformity with good industry practice and in accordance with statutory requirements.
The authorised officers will be empowered to enforce industry standards, safety regulations and statutory duties in the construction, operation or decommissioning of energy infrastructures. Amendment No. 8 will clarify that an authorised officer's powers of inspecting and testing under section 9 of the Bill will cover monitoring and assessment of the effects of any activity carried out in or on any energy infrastructure in the marine environment.
The existing section 9 (5) of the Bill provides that, in relation to damage to environmental medium, the powers of the Minister or an authorised officer shall not extend to any case in which functions stand vested in the Environmental Protection Agency or a local authority in relation to protection of the environmental medium.
The purpose of amendment No. 11 is to extend the exclusion so that the powers of the Minister or an authorised officer will not extend to injury to persons in any case in which functions stand vested in the health and safety authority, whose formal title is the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health. This is to avoid any potential confusion with safety and health legislation vested in the health and safety authority so that there is not a parallel inspectorate carrying out inspections in respect of occupation safety and health matters.
Amendment No. 12 will insert a new section into the Bill empowering the Minister for the Marine to appoint authorised officers who would exercise inspections and supervisory powers in connection with any matter for which the consent of the Minister is granted under section 5 of the Continental Shelf Act, 1968, as amended by this Bill. The powers of the Minister for the Marine and authorised officers under the proposed new section will be the same, respectively, as those of the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications and that Minister's authorised officers under section 9 of the Bill.
Amendment No. 13 is necessitated by the amendments to the Bill which provide for the appointment of authorised officers for different purposes by the Minister for the Marine and by the Electricity Supply Board and Bord Gáis Éireann.
As currently drafted, the Bill makes it an offence to obstruct, impede, mislead or refuse to comply with the requirement made by a person carrying out an investigation but does not provide for penalties for such offences. Amendment No. 14 rectifies that position by applying section 9 (11), which deals with penalties, to such offences.
Is the amendment agreed?
Which amendment?
We are discussing amendments Nos. 8, 11, 12, 13 and 14. Do you wish to speak on the group of amendments?
On a point of clarification on amendment No. 8, in particular, and the other amendments, I believe anybody who was licensed to operate in Irish waters had to provide specific information at a particular time to the Minister and his officials and had to give access to rigs, etc., operating in our waters to those same officials at all times. Has that situation changed to the extent that we need these amendments?
In fact, the powers were fragmented. In some instances, it was on the basis of goodwill on the part of the operators that inspections or enforcements would be carried out. These amendments correct that situation and makes it firm.
Amendment agreed to.
Amendment No. 9 is in the name of the Minister. Amendments Nos. 9 and 10 form a composite proposal and may be discussed together by agreement. Is that agreed? Agreed.
I move amendment No. 9:
In page 15, subsection (4), line 16, before "Where" to insert "Subject to subsection (5),".
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 10:
In page 15, subsection (4), line 19, to delete "(subject to subsection (5))".
Amendment agreed to.
I move amendment No. 11:
In page 15, lines 27 to 31, to delete subsection (5) and substitute the following:
"(5) The powers of the Minister or an authorised officer under subsection (4) in respect of —
(a) damage to an environmental medium shall not extend to any case in which functions stand vested for the time being in the Environmental Protection Agency or a local authority in relation to the protection of the environmental medium concerned, and
(b) injury to persons shall not extend to any case in which functions stand vested for the time being in the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health or any other person in relation to the taking of steps to prevent or reduce the risk of the injury concerned to persons arising.".
Amendment agreed to.
Sections 9, as amended, agreed to.
NEW SECTION.
I move amendment No. 12:
In page 16, before section 10, to insert the following new section:
10.—(1) (a) The Minister for the Marine may appoint one or more persons to be an authorised officer or authorised offices for the purposes of this section.
(b) Before appointing a person under this subsection the Minister for the Marine shall consult with the Minister for Enterprise and Employment where he or she considers it appropriate to do so having regard to the functions of that Minister of the Government.
(2) The powers conferred on—
(a) an authorised officer appointed under section 9 (1) by subsections (3) to (7) of section 9 (‘the first-mentioned powers'), and
(b) the Minister by subsections (4) to (7) of that section (‘the second-mentioned powers'),
may be exercised—
(i) in the case of the first-mentioned powers, by an authorised officer appointed under subsection (1), and
(ii) in the case of the second-mentioned powers, by the Minister for the Marine,
in respect of a structure or works in relation to the construction, alteration or improvement of which the consent of the Minister for the Marine has been granted under section 5 (inserted by section 4) of the Act of 1968 or in respect of an object or material in relation to the removal of which the consent of the said Minister of the Government has been granted under the said section.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), references in subsections (3) to (7) of section 9 to energy infrastructure shall be construed as references to a structure, works and, where the context admits, an object or material referred to in subsection (2).
(4) Subsection (2), and subsections (8) to (12), of section 9 shall apply and have effect for the purposes of subsection (2) with the necessary modifications.".
Amendment agreed to.