Mr. Eamonn Kelly:

I do. I am sorry. A call came through on my computer, so I missed the end of the Chairman's question as I cancelled of the call. The Chairman is effectively asking me how the deciding authority makes its decision on the basis of damage that has happened. It is something that An Bord Pleanála must address in the application. The EIA must, in terms of its baseline, set out what was there previously. Under the EIA directive, a part of both remedial and normal EIAs is the consideration of cumulative impacts of a development on the existing environment. To answer the Chairman’s question, it is inherent in the EIA process that, if there is damage, the authority must try to envisage what the site was like previously. For that reason, remediation is at the heart of the substitute consent process. Where a substitute consent application is either granted or refused, the planning authority or An Bord Pleanála may impose remediation conditions. It is a difficult process to undertake, but unlike EIAs where the development has not happened yet, there is proof in front of us where substitute consent applications are concerned. There is something that can be monitored, touched, assessed and measured in terms of the damage caused. It is cold comfort for the environment that has been damaged or impacted, but this approach makes it easier for the authority to assess the damage because the damage is right there in front of it. I do not know if that answers the Chairman’s question but, in a nutshell, it is something that the planning authority or An Bord Pleanála must struggle with and it is provided for in the context of remediation being at the heart of the substitute consent process.