Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 March 2012
120 Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the classes of development and the circumstances which require environmental screening; the details of the legislative provisions covering environmental screening; the exemptions from environmental screening that may be permitted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14382/12]
View answerThe Environmental Impact Assessment Directive is transposed into Irish planning law in Part X of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and Part 10 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended.
Schedule 5 of the Regulations sets out the type of projects for which, and the thresholds above which, environmental impact assessment is mandatory and in respect of which an environmental impact assessment must be carried out as part of the planning application process. The Regulations also provide that where a planning application for sub-threshold development is not accompanied by an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and the likelihood of significant effects on the environment cannot be excluded by the planning authority (or An Bord Pleanála, as appropriate), it must make a determination as to whether the development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment (which determination is referred to as "screening") and where it determines that the development would be likely to have such significant effects it must require the applicant to submit an EIS and must carry out environmental impact assessment in respect of the project. Similar provisions apply in the case of development by a local authority.
In relation to the matter of an exemption, section 172(3) of the Planning Act makes provision for An Bord Pleanála to grant an exemption from the requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement, in the case of a particular development, where it is satisfied that exceptional circumstances warrant this (however an exemption may not be granted if another Member State of the European Communities or other state party to the Transboundary Convention has indicated that it intends to furnish views on the environmental effects of the proposed development).
The requirements of the Habitats Directive in relation to screening, insofar as consents under the planning code are concerned, are transposed into Irish law by section 177U of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as inserted by section 57 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010). Section 177U provides that every application for consent for a proposed development must be screened in order to assess whether, in view of best scientific knowledge, the development would be likely to have a significant effect on a European site. Unless, following the screening, it can be excluded that the proposed development would have a significant effect on a European site, an appropriate assessment must be carried out.
There is no exemption under the Habitats Directive from the requirement to carry out screening.
