Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Work on developing the geothermal energy development Bill has been deferred until other legislative priorities have been dealt with. The immediate priority includes fully transposing EU environmental impact assessment legislation into existing minerals legislation to ensure the compliance of national legislation with EU requirements. The other priority is the full commencement of the Minerals (Development) Act 2017, which provides for a modern legislative and regulatory framework for the exploration and production of minerals in Ireland. The commencement of the Act requires the preparation of several statutory instruments and guidance documents to enable proper implementation of the new Act and its operation by the mining industry, which will take approximately 18 months. In that context, the work on the geothermal legislation will include reviewing the proposed geothermal regulatory framework to ensure it is compatible with the Minerals (Development) Act 2017 and the underlying policy in the context of the White Paper on Energy from 2015, which included a geothermal Bill in the programme and which may have led to some confusion as to when the Bill will be published. It is another item that will appear on the agendas of the new Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney.

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