Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this meeting is to scrutinise COM (2012) 628, which is a proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and the Council amending Directive 2011/92/EU on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment.

I welcome Mr. Philip Nugent, principal officer, Ms Marian O'Driscoll, assistant principal officer, and Mr. Conor O'Sullivan, higher executive officer, who are all from the planning section of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, and I thank them for their attendance. I wish to advise them that by virtue of 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009 witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. If, however, they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against a person, persons or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. I wish to advise that the opening statement and other documents submitted to the committee will be published on its website after the meeting. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

Before Mr. Nugent makes his presentation, I wish to make a few comments. After 25 years of application, the environmental impact assessment directive has not changed significantly whereas the policy, legal and technical contexts have evolved considerably. A number of shortcomings have been outlined in respect of the directive and the Commission's proposal has been drafted on foot of these. I wish to ask the officials from the Department if this proposal achieves an appropriate balance between protecting the environment and imposing burdens on developers and the competent national authorities. Will significant cost and time burdens be imposed on those authorities? In the current economy climate, are such costs necessary? The Department's information note, which was circulated to members, states that the proposal may give rise to issues around the principle of subsidiarity. As the officials are aware, Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann each have an opportunity to submit reasoned opinions to the President of the European Parliament, the President of the Council and the President of the Commission if it is considered that there is a breach of subsidiarity. Accordingly, I ask the officials to elaborate on any issues which may give rise to such a breach.