Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 November 2010
32 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to implement Directive No. 2000/EC/60 for the protection of inland surface waters, rivers and lakes, transitional waters, estuaries, coastal waters and groundwater; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44421/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraDirective 2000/60/EC, the Water Framework Directive, provides a comprehensive basis for the protection and improvement of inland surface waters, groundwater and transitional and coastal waters. The Directive requires that Member States take a catchment-based approach to the protection of waters by establishing river basin districts and management plans for these districts.
In July 2010 I approved river basin management plans for each of our seven river basin districts. The plans set out the current status of our waters, the environmental objectives to be achieved and the measures to be implemented in order to achieve those objectives. They cover all of the waters in the country, numbering approximately 5,000 surface water and 800 groundwater bodies.
The plans aim to increase the proportion of rivers and canals at good or high status from 54% currently to 68% by 2015 and the proportion of lakes at good or high status from 65% currently to 84% by 2015. These would represent significant improvements in water quality and the process of improvement will continue into subsequent planning cycles.
The measures to protect and improve waters require an appropriate legal base and since 2007, I have significantly strengthened the legislative framework for the protection of waters. New regulations, the Waste Water Discharge (Authorisation) Regulations, were introduced in 2007 requiring local authorities to obtain discharge licences from the EPA for wastewater treatment plants.
In 2009, the European Communities Environmental Objectives (Surface Waters) Regulations were introduced, establishing environmental quality standards and giving further effect to the Water Framework Directive. Earlier in 2010 I introduced complementary legislation in relation to groundwater.
The most recent Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012 also reflects the priority which I have given to the protection and improvement of our waters, both in terms of the continued high level of investment and the alignment of the programme with the environmental priorities identified in the river basin management plans.
The challenge now will be to ensure that the objectives of the river basin management plans are realised. This will require, inter alia, a review of the current administrative structures in the context of implementing the recommendations of the report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group which recognised the potential for strengthening the delivery approach at regional level, building on existing shared services arrangements.
33 Deputy Joe Costello asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps he has taken to implement Directive 96/61/EC which requires industrial and agricultural activities with a high pollution potential to have a permit so that companies themselves bear responsibility for preventing and reducing any pollution they may cause; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44410/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been licensing certain large-scale industrial and agriculture activities progressively since 1994. Originally the licensing system was known as Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) licensing, governed by the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992. The Act was amended by the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 which gave effect to Council Directive 96/61/EC concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC).
EU Member States were required to comply with the IPPC Directive in respect of new installations by 30 October 1999 and existing installations by 30 October 2007. As of 1 September 2010, there were 576 IPPC permits in place in Ireland.
Ireland has fully implemented the Directive in respect of all sectors covered except for the intensive rearing of pigs and poultry. The EPA has taken significant steps to bring these sectors into full compliance and continues to take such action as is necessary in order to require all relevant installations to hold an IPPC permit.
The IPPC licensing system administered by the EPA is generally acknowledged to have secured substantial improvements in the environmental performance of the industrial and other activities covered by the IPPC Directive, for example, reduced emissions to air and water; energy savings; moves to more environmentally friendly processes; and lower noise emissions.
