Seanad debates

Thursday, 27 November 2003

Address by Ms Nuala Ahern, MEP.

 

To build on a comment of Senator Lydon's about the Green agenda, it is fair to say that most political parties are now pro-environment. One thing that concerns me, not about the Green Party but the Green lobby, is that when they go looking for something and get it, such as the Environmental Protection Agency which they wanted established years ago, they query and do not accept the results produced. In this case they now want a new agency to be established. They tend to move the goalposts, which is damaging to environmentalists around the country as it damages their credibility. I ask for Ms Ahern's views on that issue. It is important to have agencies to control the environment and that when they make reports, we accept them and act on them. We should not be alarmist. For example, the EPA produced a report recently which showed a factory was in breach of emission levels, which proves the EPA is doing its work, but it should not be used for alarmist purposes in calling for factories to be closed, as some people might do. It proves the EPA is effective and doing its work and means we have to push resources to that agency to enable it to continue its work.

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