Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have just a couple of questions. Mr. Finnegan mentioned better co-operation between national authorities. Domestic co-operation also seems to be key. In that context, Mr. Finnegan mentioned co-operation between the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and the Department of Justice. In fairness to the Minister of State responsible for heritage, Deputy Noonan, he has pushed the idea of the wildlife crime unit. The Ministry responsible for heritage would seem to comprise another key point. What are the plans to ensure those elements intersect?

Let me refer to an issue in which I am very interested. I do not believe we need to wait for the directive to come into place to assume there is a problem, that is, the serious circumnavigation of the requirement to make an environmental impact assessment. Ireland has an extremely poor record on conducting environmental impact assessments and constantly seems to be coming up with new reasons as to why we do not need to conduct them.

With regard to resources and capacity, how has the capacity increased over the past year or two? What are the plans to increase it in respect of environmental impact assessments, including in respect of the public's capacity to support them? This has come up in multiple areas, including forestry.

There are two points that I noted. Mr. Finnegan mentioned deliberate acts. I was a little concerned when I heard that. Could Mr. Finnegan clarify that it is not the Irish position that one has to prove bad intent? An act that is the result of negligence still has the same bad environmental impact as a deliberate act. Indeed, the precautionary principle under EU law and practice under the treaties implies it is about due care being taken. Could Mr. Finnegan comment on how the precautionary principle is likely to be reflected in our approach to the directive? Could he clarify that it is not solely deliberate acts but also acts that come about through negligence that he believes might be covered?