Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 22 October 2025

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food

Anaerobic Digestion: Discussion (Resumed)

2:00 am

Ms Niamh Hamill:

I will lean in. You will have to hear me shouting now.

Resourcing is a key issue. While it is a heavily regulated industry, it is called out in the strategy whether agencies are resourced enough to handle the level of applications that are going to be coming through. There are two sides to that. One is we have to help them to standardise that assessment process and make sure they are resourced to do it. Then, as the industry starts to grow at scale, we need to see whether that is adequate and whether it is there. The timelines for process enforcement issues were mentioned. That could be seen as a resourcing issue as well. It is not that the EPA does not have the powers, but how long it is taking to process. There are a couple of things. The strategy calls it out that we need to look at resourcing. That is a key action we are working on with the EPA and the Department of agriculture regarding animal by-products as well. Whether it is licensing, permitting or the whole works, it is about resourcing.