Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 27 May 2010
9 Deputy Noel J. Coonan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reply that he has issued in response to the recent threat of fines from the EU Commission for failure to adhere to European Court of Justice rulings concerning illegal developments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22355/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraI presume the question refers to European Court of Justice cases C215-06 and C66-06, both of which relate to the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive and which are the subject of letters of formal notice from the Commission to which the Irish Government will shortly be responding.
In relation to case C215-06, the ECJ ruled, in June 2008, that the Irish retention permission system did not comply with the EIA Directive. In response to the judgment, amendments are being made in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009, which is to be enacted this summer, to remove the possibility of retention for EIA development, other than in exceptional circumstances, and to abolish the seven year rule for enforcement action in respect of extractive industry EIA development. Pending enactment of the amending legislation, my Department issued a circular letter to planning authorities and An Bord Pleanála in October 2008, outlining the approach to be taken in dealing with retention applications for EIA developments in the interim. I understand the circular has been effective in preventing applications for retention of EIA-type developments being accepted by planning authorities since its publication.
In case C66-06, in November 2008 the ECJ found that Ireland's system of screening projects to assess the requirement to carry out EIAs for certain categories of agricultural development was over-reliant on size thresholds and did not take sufficient account of other relevant criteria such as the cumulative effects of development and the location of those developments. In response to the judgment, my Department is proposing to lower the thresholds for affected projects under which an EIA is mandatory, introduce enhanced notification and screening processes for relevant sub-threshold development, and abolish any planning exemptions for relevant projects where an EIA is required.
The ECJ judgment also ruled that the Irish regulations transposing the EIA directive in regard to aquaculture activities were deficient, and this matter is being addressed by my colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
What planning exemptions does the Minister of State propose to bring under the remit of the EIA?
That is a matter for decision under the legislation and the regulations. If Deputy Hogan has any specific ideas he wishes to address to me I would be more than happy to receive them.
I was wondering whether the Minister had given any thought to the necessary exemptions.
I do not have that information to hand.
I am trying to be helpful. Perhaps we can deal with the matter under the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2009, which is going through Committee Stage. Perhaps at that stage the Minister of State could supply us with the information on what he has in mind. We could discuss the scope of the EIA to which the Minister of State referred during the course of the Committee Stage debate.
We can. I can revert to the Deputy on that specific instance. To summarise what we are trying to do with the planning system, we are trying to make it much more rigorous with an impetus from this country and Europe to include environmental impact assessment and development plans so we will have much more certainty within the planning process. That will benefit both the communities and residents but also developers. The more certainty there is in the system, the better the planning system will be for sustainable economic development as well.
When the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, was in Opposition he often raised this country's failure to comply with European Union judgments. I would have thought he would be very specific about what needs to be done for us to comply with the three rulings concerned. Even though the Green Party has been in Government for the past three years we are still being hauled over the coals by the European Union for failing to comply with European Court of Justice rulings. In this country we still seem to battle out the EU on its decisions; we do not just comply with them. Does the Minister of State have specific plans to introduce legislation that will address the three cases to which he referred this year?
There is much good news in this. My belief is that since coming into office my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Gormley, has given the highest priority to the transposition and implementation of EU environmental legislation. He has secured the closure of 27 cases in the past two and a half years. Deputy Tuffy might think we are being hauled over the coals on a regular basis but I think we are shaking Commission members by the hand and asking what we can do and what needs to be done.
What about the five rulings?
At an environmental Council meeting in March 2010 the Minister met the current Environment Commissioner, Mr. Potocnik, and reaffirmed this country's commitment on EU compliance. To throw a few more numbers into the mix 33 cases were outstanding when the Minister came into office, but there are now 23. That is a 50% reduction in the number of cases. Deputy Tuffy will be aware from her legal background that one cannot just wave a magic wand and implement compliance overnight. From meeting with the Minister in the past three years I am aware that we have been pulling out all the stops to achieve compliance. In some cases a lengthy legal process has to be gone through and the Attorney General must have oversight and detailed involvement in all of those cases. Good news is emerging. The amount of cases is reducing. In many cases we must seek co-operation across all branches of Government. It is difficult to get the resources. It is difficult in-house but in other Departments it is difficult to find those resources as well. We are doing our best and this is a good news story.
