Vol. 470 No. 7
131 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for the Environment the environmental requirements and wishes which the Irish Government expressed in its document to the EU in connection with the Intergovernmental Conference; and the proposals, if any, in relation to the environment, made for amendments to the Treaty. [19692/96]
Environmental issues are being discussed in the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the basis of papers prepared by the Irish Presidency; copies of these are available in the Oireachtas Library. The Irish national delegation has supported an enhancement of the environmental provisions of the Treaty in the two main ways suggested by the Presidency: first, by including in the Treaty an explicit formulation of the Union's commitment to sustainable development; and by including in the Treaty a strengthened horizontal provision to ensure that environmental considerations are integrated in the sectoral policies of the Community.
The Irish national delegation has also tabled a discussion document on the possibility of strengthening the nuclear safety provisions of the Euratom Treaty in the context of the further enlargement of the European Union. This document is also available in the Oireachtas Library.
