Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I, too, regret the fact that the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, is not present. I have nothing against the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, but on Committee Stage we had a very good and quite lengthy discussion with the Minister. It would have been useful to have had a continuation of it because some of the Government's amendments are in response to amendments tabled on Committee Stage and the Bill is complex. Even if we had to shut down at 9 p.m. for the news or whatever else, it would have been better for us to have managed the debate in that way. The ordering of business in the House is not easy and we are where we are.

I support Deputy Eoin Ó Broin's amendments which would appropriately strengthen the environmental assessment process and engagement with the public, with particular reference to the Aarhus Convention in his first amendment in terms of how we are implementing it in quite an extensive revision of the 2001 Act. It is right and appropriate to include in the Bill a six-month check. The later amendments are correct in proposing to strengthen the powers of environmental impact assessment systems, consult people and provide information in a more upfront and transparent way, which is at the heart of the Aarhus Convention process.

As I understand them, we will be able to support amendments Nos. 83 and 84 which seek to ensure the Government would retain fees from a developer in making an application in appropriate circumstances and to provide for more public information on an application in the screening process when it has to be decided whether an environmental impact assessment is allowed. I am interested in hearing the response of the Minister on the intent of these two amendments. It seems that they are reasonable and progressive. I look forward to hearing the response of the Minister to amendments Nos. 1, 82 and 85 which are worthy of support.

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