Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is two heads, the first being head No. 7 and I believe the other is head No. 11 or No. 12, which is the granting of licences.

Will the Department give the committee an update on the European Commission's enforcement procedures against the State with regard to breaches of the water framework directive, including this section, and if there has been any discussion with the Commission on the contents of the Bill?

I also have two related follow-up questions on the last exchange we had. It is my understanding that Directive 2014/52/EU is very clear that where an environmental impact assessment is being carried out public consultation has to take place. If we are not allowing that public consultation on the grant of a licence for an existing abstractor, it seems pretty clear to me that we are in breach of that directive. Again, if the officials cannot answer that perhaps it could be raised with the Attorney General. Likewise, I understand that if an abstraction is impacting on a Natura 2000 designated site then the abstraction must cease immediately and appropriate assessment, which is a formal technical procedure, has to be carried out before a decision is made. There is no provision in the heads of the Bill for that. Will the Department also comment on that please?