Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the thrust of Senator Bannon's amendment and I appreciate his intention with regard to the environment. Senator Dardis hit the nail on the head and almost answered the question he posed. I want to be absolutely consistent with the directive because I want to maintain the competitiveness of our economy against those of our European partners. We would all accept that European environmental standards are very high. That is something to which Ireland aspires and we will be supportive of that in our own role in developing these directives.

Article 2.11 of the IPPC directive provides the definition of available techniques. The definition makes it clear that costs of techniques should be taken into account in the determination of BAT, and this is also repeated in annex 4 of the directive. I made the point that if we do not follow the directive we will force applicants and holders of IPPC and waste licences to apply best available technologies, irrespective of cost. That could not be allowed to happen because it would have significant effects on the ability of Irish industry to compete and would ultimately lead to job losses and to industries relocating out of Ireland to other European countries. We need a balanced approach to environmental protection. We must strive for high environmental standards and the Bill's provisions – some would say they go too far – make significant progress in this regard. We must also have regard for the economic reality in the marketplace, however, and the need for a level playing field across the EU.