Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 September 2021
678. Deputy Michael Lowry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the details involved in preparing an EIA further to circular 5 of 2021; the minimum anticipated cost of preparing an EIA for such dead or dying crops; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44520/21]
View answerUnder Section 72 of the Environment Protection Agency Act 1992, the EPA is responsible for the preparation of guidelines on the information to be contained in an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) that is required to be submitted to the relevant Competent Authority in connection with any given application for planning permission, a licence, or other form of statutory consent. The latest draft Guidelines, dated August 2017, are available from the EPA website. I understand applicants may seek details regarding the particular scope and level of detail of the information to be included in the EIAR for any given project.
As set out in the Department's Forestry Divisions Circular 5 of 2021, in the case of projects involving “the replacement of broadleaf high forest with conifer species” the obligation to obtain planning permission or submit an EIAR arises from the provisions of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, and not from the Forestry Act 2014 or the Forestry Regulations 2017, as amended. As such, the authority responsible for assessing an EIAR in respect of these projects and in particular providing a ‘Scoping Opinion’ in advance of its submission is the relevant local Planning Authority.
The Department is not aware of any minimum cost of preparing an EIAR having been published by the EPA or any other State authority. I understand that generally costs will vary depending on the size and complexity of the project, sensitivity of the landscape and the efficiency of the study undertaken to prepare the EIAR.
Critically, the requirement to obtain planning permission or submit an EIAR does not apply where a landowner intends to replace an existing broadleaf crop with broadleaf species.
