Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

Amendments Nos. 18, 20, 23 and 24, propose to delete the words "or for the purposes of an activity for which", from section 5 and would reinstate a similar phrase later on. This phrase, "comprising or for the purposes of an activity" is used throughout the Planning and Development Act 2000, the Environmental Protection Act and the Waste Management Act. It is a common phrase which seems to be somewhat cumbersome. I think it is sufficiently broad to ensure that the EPA is consulted where necessary for the board to obtain its views and therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendment. There is a particular risk of confusion where different language is used in different sections to express the same idea. Much of the language used in the Bill is based on the existing phraseology in the 2000 Act, as amended by the Protection of the Environment Act 2003.

Senator Bannon suggested on Committee Stage that this language had been used to amend these Acts in the Protection of the Environment Act. I refer the Senator to section 99F, inserted by section 15 of the 2003 Act in which the language used is the same as is used here.

With regard to amendment No. 19, it would simply delete the word, "a", in the phrase, "an integrated pollution control licence or a waste licence" in subsection (5). The phrase is correct as it is and I do not propose to change it as this would be a disimprovement.