Ciarán Ahern (Dublin South West, Labour)

I move amendment No. 21:

In page 15, between lines 39 and 40, to insert the following: “(4) Where the Agency—

(a) does not give notice of a proposed determination within the period prescribed under subsection (2), it shall notify the applicant thereof as soon as may be, stating why it has not been possible to make a decision within that period,

(b) does not give notice of a proposed determination within such further period as may be prescribed under subsection (2) for the purposes of this paragraph, it shall repay to the applicant all fees paid to the Agency by the applicant in respect of the application.”.

This is the reporting and enforcement of statutory timelines on EPA licensing decisions. The Bill introduces statutory timelines for EPA licensing decisions, but they do not seem to have a lot of teeth. The EPA seems to just have to report when the timelines are missed. I am not sure what enforcement mechanisms would be appropriate, but this is an attempt at that.