Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

As the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, is on official business and not in the Dáil today, I have been asked to take this important matter on his behalf. I thank the Deputy for raising it.

In its judgment in case C-66/06, delivered in November 2010, the European Court of Justice found that Ireland's system of environmental impact assessment screening for certain categories of agriculture related projects was over-reliant on size thresholds and did not take into account other relevant criteria such as cumulative impacts of development and location relative to sensitive sites. The case has now been referred back to the court to seek fines for continued non-compliance.

The provisions of the EIA directive were transposed into Irish legislation by the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001. Schedule 5 of the 2001 regulations specifies relevant development for the purposes of Part X of the Act which deals with EIAs. The activities affected by the judgment are the restructuring of rural land holdings, the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agriculture, and water management projects for agriculture, including irrigation and land drainage.

The European Court of Justice decision necessitated a major reduction in the thresholds for mandatory EIAs and for EIA screening for projects under the mandatory thresholds. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have worked together, in consultation with the European Commission, to fully address the court's findings and ensure Ireland's legislative system and procedures are fully compliant with the directive. It was agreed that it was more efficient and appropriate to transfer responsibility for most of the activities covered by the judgment such as the restructuring of fields and removal of hedgerows and boundaries, the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agriculture and normal field drainage works to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as part of its wider management responsibilities for overseeing agricultural activities and integrating environmental considerations into relevant schemes. It was agreed that it is more efficient and appropriate to transfer responsibility for most of the activities covered by the judgment, such as the re-structuring of fields and removal of hedgerows and boundaries, the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agriculture and normal field drainage works to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food as part of its wider management responsibilities for overseeing agricultural activities and integrating environmental considerations into relevant schemes. The only element of the judgment retained within the planning system is on-farm development activity that impacts on the drainage or reclamation of wetlands, which are regarded as highly environmentally sensitive areas.

Following approval by the Oireachtas of the draft regulations, on 8 September 2011 the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government signed the Planning and Development (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011, which introduce a number of amendments to address the ECJ findings in this case.

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food also signed, on 8 September, new European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 which provide for a new system of screening for environmental impact above certain thresholds for different types of agricultural activity, and the requirement for the Minister's consent to be sought and mandatory environmental impact assessment, EIA, to be carried out on such projects at a higher threshold level.

See this speech in context