John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

The Deputy is correct. The Commission challenged the enforcement measures put in place by Ireland to ensure genuine application of the EIA directive. According to the Commission, Irish legislation did not impose any clear obligation to bring unauthorised development to a stop. In particular, the Commission felt Ireland had not presented evidence of clear guidelines for local authorities to ensure these authorities take the necessary enforcement action. The Commission set out some examples illustrating the failure to take enforcement action in Ireland and cited five particular examples relating to quarries and one each of a piggery, a peat bog, a hotel, a convention centre and a wood processing factory. Ireland argued that the existence of an exception power to grant retention permission represents a sensible fallback development and consent position.

It has always been my conviction that in this country we play fast and loose on planning and particularly on retention. I am introducing a suite of measures, which I have circulated to my Government colleagues. I want to develop the heads of a new planning Bill that will address these issues.

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