Mr. Brian Breslin:

On the question of environmental impacts, the EPA was set up with that purpose in mind. Most of the provisions in the Bill relate to property issues and the regulation of the substance. It is a basic requirement that all of the activities must comply with all environmental legislation. However, we are keenly aware of the potential environmental impacts of mining. The Minister has been, and continues to be, a statutory consultee in the environmental impact assessment process. The Minister has every application for a new mine, where an environmental impact statement is submitted along with a planning application, examined in great detail. He brings in outside expertise to examine it and provides comments to the local authority and the EPA, with suggestions for conditions and various other such matters.

The EPA is the competent authority to monitor and regulate environmental emissions, and it does so very diligently. We co-operate with it in all of that. In particular, with regard to closure planning the closure funds are managed by the Minister, the EPA and the relevant local authority. No money is released from those funds without the consent of all three authorities and without proper scrutiny of all the activity that must be undertaken. We do not propose to change or modify the environmental legislation in any way in this Bill because it is considered that that is the appropriate way to deal with the environmental aspects of it.

I briefly mentioned the Aarhus Convention. We went into great detail about that. The environmental decision about whether a mine goes ahead is taken by the local authority, primarily, and it is then licensed under the integrated pollution prevention control, IPPC, licensing process. The decision of the Minister to grant a mining licence is not considered to be a decision within the meaning of Aarhus, but there is a public consultation process built into the existing legislation and that will continue under this legislation. There is a public consultation process in respect of prospecting, which is not an activity that has a significant impact on the environment, and the Minister is required to give notice of any decision he takes and allow time for consultation, objections and so forth.

The Deputy mentioned investors' rights and developments in that area. These are matters of commercial law and are dealt with under separate legislation. It is not within our competence or within the Minister's bailiwick, but we keep an eye on developments. Much of the investment in exploration, initially, and ultimately in mining in Ireland comes from abroad. We have no restrictions on access to the market here. Traditionally, however, the ground-breaking exploration has been undertaken by Irish companies, small junior companies that find encouraging deposits, and when it gets to a point where larger, heavier investment is required, the outside interest becomes involved. Also, we attract investment from major international players in greenfield exploration here. However, we are not attempting to address commercial investment regulations in this legislation. That is a matter for other Ministers.