Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the question of public consultation, I also might add that when the EPA advertised for public views, more than 1,000 submissions were received. Obviously many of them dealt with the environmental impacts to which the Deputy has referred but a considerable number of concerns were raised on the potential impact to human health, leading to the steering group agreeing it would add a health expert to scrutinise the data it had been examining.

As for the specific question the Deputy now has raised, the economic cost to a company to do anything in respect of planning, in other words, what it spends on its operation, must be borne by the company itself. However, the Deputy is correct in that if there are other costs on the community, such as improvements to roads, engineering works or whatever, there obviously also are community costs arising from planning permissions. Leaving aside hydraulic fracturing, in the planning process, part of the planning consideration pertains to the economic cost to improvements. In other words, people who apply in respect of a house also are obliged to make a contribution towards water, sewerage and road costs. Consequently, I presume that any application that has an economic impact anywhere in this country and that is wider than the specific company or person making the application, is considered and is part of the planning process. One frequently sees impositions on companies regarding planning applications and moneys levied to ensure that in such cases, whatever they may be, that additional community costs are covered for the community that will be specifically affected.

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