Results 1-20 of 27 for epa segment:6043217

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: It was. I will answer some of them and my colleague, Mr. O'Leary, the director of enforcement, will answer others. With regard to the confidence of the public in the EPA, the confidence of the public and the engagement of the public in environmental matters is something we have highlighted throughout the history of the EPA. With only about 300 staff there is only so much...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

James Heffernan: ...contribute to this discussion. I have some questions for the director general of the agency. Shortly after her appointment she stated in an interview with The Irish Times that in her opinion the EPA should not be racing to prosecute business for non-compliance with environmental licences and regulations. Was this her personal opinion at that time? Did it perhaps come from her...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

...issues the Vice Chairman raised. First, I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend this joint Oireachtas committee meeting. As the Vice Chairman stated, I am joined by colleagues from the EPA to assist in the work of the committee today. The Environmental Protection Agency's mission is to protect and improve the environment as a valuable asset for the people of Ireland and to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Catherine Murphy: ...agree there is no doubt that there is a serious global problem and we are part of it. We have not had sight of the sectoral plans which state our ambition, or so we have been told. I presume the EPA will review them when they are issued. Ireland will miss the 2020 targets and we will be required to meet targets by 2030. Has the EPA a systematic plan for achieving the 2030 targets...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: A wide range of people and organisations were involved in the review, including the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, an independent person who had been with the environmental protection agency in the Netherlands, Professor Anthony Staines from DCU, and Dick Budden, a member of Repak and managing director of Wellman, a recycling facility in Meath....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Denis Landy: Thank you, Chairman. I welcome the representatives from the EPA here today. I invited the EPA here a number of months ago to discuss a number of the issues with which we are dealing today. I welcome its report. Would the EPA agree with me that the confidence of the public in its role as the protectors of the environment is paramount to the success of the organisation? On the number of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Robert Dowds: I welcome Ms Burke and her team. I appreciated their presentation. I wish to ask about a variety of issues. Can the EPA update me on the Greyhound facility in Clondalkin? The EPA has needed to involve itself in that site a number of times. As a Deputy for the area, I am curious about how matters stand. I will ask a related, albeit more general, question. I will not necessarily pin...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

...: There is a wide range of questions. I will deal with some and my colleagues will deal with enforcement. On climate change, it is envisaged in the current draft climate change Bill that the EPA will be secretariat to an expert advisory body that will be established and consist of numerous representatives, including from the EPA, Teagasc, the ESRI and SEAI. Other members are to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: I will clarify what I said at the time. I said that the EPA has a very important role in regulation but we also have a role - which we talked about it earlier in the meeting - with regard to encouraging behavioural change and encouraging people in their homes, businesses and communities to be resource-efficient and to protect the environment. To be very clear, we have roles...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Caít Keane: On the EPA and the need for Irish Water to develop a national strategy on lead, has this started? Is it just beginning or what is its current status? Has the EPA been in contact with Irish Water on the national strategy? While I had a question on fracking, most of it has been answered except in respect of Mr. Lynott's statement that €1.5 million has been allocated from the EPA's own...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

...Deputy raised a combination of issues. I will address some of the broader ones and ask my colleagues to address the more detailed ones. Regarding companies that refuse to change their ways, the EPA uses a broad range of enforcement tools: education and guidance; civil sanctions; criminal sanctions; and revocation of licences. We have revoked licences, but that is the ultimate sanction....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: I will speak about the boil water notices and my colleague will talk about the raw sewage. This is not a new problem and the EPA has highlighted it in previous drinking water reports. Our 2012 drinking water report highlighted that 50,000 people had been put on boil water notices during the course of the year. Just because it is not a new issue does not mean it is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Michelle Mulherin: I welcome the witnesses for the EPA here today. A lot of questions have been asked. In the presentation by the director general, one item that strikes me as of great concern is that there are 162 urban wastewater treatment plants operating without licence. I understand these unlicensed plants were not built in the past year and some of them have been functioning nearly for decades. What I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Denis Landy: ...have been given some detail on it. Will the witnesses clarify whether the visits to which the report refers are the same as inspections? Are inspections notified in advance of the attendance of EPA staff on sites? Is it correct that the 1,370 visits or inspections carried out by the EPA resulted in only 13 prosecutions? What proportion of monitoring activity is done by private...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: I will start with the non-ionising radiation question and then we can talk about the water side of things. As recently as July of this year the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government commissioned the national institute for public health in the Netherlands, RIVM, to prepare a report that synthesises existing research on non-ionising radiation with a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Michelle Mulherin: Is the EPA satisfied that this is reflected in their two-year capital programme?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Mr. Gerard O'Leary: I hope to bring a report from my colleagues to the board of the EPA shortly. We have carried out much data review. The work is ongoing but will be completed very shortly.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

...We set a minimum level of inspection for local authorities. They must add this into the mix in terms of the agricultural and other inspections they carry out. It is done on a risk basis and the EPA sets a minimum level. Local authorities know their areas better than we do.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Mr. Dara Lynott: The reason we are interested in fracking is that under European law, the EPA would be required to license it. Therefore, we initiated our research into this area by commissioning a desktop study for approximately €5,000 to give us an overview of fracking and where it is at in the world. That laid out a number of areas that we needed to look into. From that, we have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Role and Functions: Environmental Protection Agency (4 Nov 2014)

Ms Laura Burke: If the Senator gives me a moment, I can break down the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, for him. As for salaries and pensions, approximately €22 million of the EPA's budget is spent on salaries and pensions and out of that, our staff - including our approximately 80 staff members in enforcement - are paid. Information management and technology is...