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

This is last-minute technical legislation, which is difficult, and we are amending various Acts. There is also European law. Would accepting this amendment not give us some protections against the concerns I have set out over not commencing section 28(1) for developments had been required to undergo an EIA? Does it not also give certain cover? The Bill grants an extension which is akin to major changes to planning law. Is there not a risk from changes in European legislation to situations where a development is given an extension but should have had a new EIA? Article 6.10 of the Aarhus Convention states:

Each Party shall ensure that, when a public authority reconsiders or updates the operating conditions for an activity referred to in paragraph 1, the provisions of paragraphs 2 to 9 of this article are applied mutatis mutandis, and where appropriate.

I suggested the amendment to bring about some protection legally.

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