Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is no prospect of there being any developments in this area for quite some considerable time. The Environmental Protection Agency commissioned study is under way. It will not report before the middle of 2016. I would have thought that at that stage we would require a significant period either for me or whoever has the honour of being in this position as Minister to review and consider the matter then, as well as debate it in the House. In that sense I should reassure the Deputy.

As we have said already, the research programme is managed by the EPA. It is co-funded by the EPA, my Department and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. There is oversight from a broad-based steering committee that includes my Department.

The consortium I mentioned earlier includes the British Geological Survey, University College Dublin, Ulster University, Queen's University Belfast, AMEC, Foster Wheeler and Philip Lee Solicitors. They all have expertise that they bring to the table. It will be open to those bodies to collaborate and work together on the research and evidence. Ultimately, it will be for the EPA to ensure a report is produced. In the circumstances, I believe we should allow that work to conclude. We should have confidence that it will be robust. We can evaluate the work in due course when it comes through, but not before the middle of 2016 at the earliest.

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