Dr. Eimear Cotter:

Information is really important so that people understand their legal obligations, which have been in place on the registration since 2018. We have worked closely with different representative organisations, relevant Departments and other statutory agencies and organisations such as Bord Bia to ensure we can give that information, through those organisations, to the relevant people so they will understand their obligations. There is a role for us to engage with local authorities in that regard to ensure they can help people to understand their obligations.

There are two parts to the enforcement issue, one of which is the general binding rules. We earlier gave some clarity as to who will enforce the general binding rules. They apply to everybody who abstracts water, irrespective of the volume. There is also the enforcement of the EPA's licensing regime for medium and larger abstractions. We will enforce that licensing regime, as we do with all our licensing functions in the EPA, through our office of environmental enforcement.