Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senators for their welcome. I want to update the House on what has been happening since the enactment of the Chemicals Act 2008 and I will deal with the various queries that have been raised.

Since the Government designated the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, as the lead authority for REACH in Ireland, it has created an incredibly professional operation. It recruited a team of 33 staff embodying a range of scarce and technical expertise. That team has assisted Irish industry to meet the demands of the new REACH framework as well as setting up an inspection and monitoring regime required by that framework. The HSA chemicals operation has earned widespread respect from industry as well as the respect of its peers across Europe.

The first deadline for REACH was what was called pre-registration, and that occurred in December 2008. Under the initial REACH pre-registration process, there were more than 2.7 million pre-registrations of in excess of 143,000 substances by more than 65,000 entities across the EU. The maximum number of pre-registrations that had been anticipated originally was about 300,000. In Ireland, in excess of 97,000 substances were pre-registered for REACH by more than 3,200 legal entities representing approximately 240 companies.

In the chemicals area, in 2009 the HSA completed 1,513 inspections, including almost 1,200 specific REACH inspections, and 472 inspections of all major accident hazards sites covered by the 2006 Seveso regulations and other high-risk workplaces storing and using large quantities of dangerous chemicals. EU obligations also require the HSA to inspect all 86 Seveso — major accident hazards — sites in Ireland, which it achieved. A memoranda of understanding was progressed between the HSA and other agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, An Bord Pleanála, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and Customs and Excise. Support for industry, through the dedicated REACH and CLP help desk, answered 470 detailed queries in 2009 and hosted of two seminars and presentations at several conferences and industry meetings on the requirements of REACH and CLP. I give the House these figures to show the engagement of the HSA and its chemical section, and the officials of my Department, with industry on this much regulated area. There is a willingness to engage to assist them to implement this EU legislation.

On the concerns raised by Senators Phelan and Quinn about the regulatory impact assessment, RIA, I again emphasise that as far as classification, labelling and packaging, CLP, is concerned, the legal basis for the enforcement of the CLP regulation was the 2008 Act. That is why the CLP was addressed in a regulatory impact assessment for the draft heads of the Chemicals Bill 2007. The CLP regulation was not included in the Act as it had not yet been adopted at EU level. None the less, the Attorney General advised at that time that the Chemicals Act 2008 needed to be amended to accommodate the new regulations and a further RIA was carried out. The RIA is published on the Department's website. The inclusion of CLP and the new Rotterdam regulation does not impose any additional compliance costs on industry. It is also important to note that separate impact assessments were carried out on the content of the EU regulations directly applicable, and the then draft EU regulations were considered at various stages, including by the relevant committee.

Senators Phelan and Quinn spoke about reducing red tape, and we are committed to doing that in the Department. We are specifically focusing on health and safety law, unemployment law and company law. In health and safety law, last week I chaired a seminar of all interested groups, from industry to worker representative groups, on how we can do so without undermining the basis of the protection offered by that legislation. We are also doing much work on employment law and company law. Simplification plans are being prepared for each of the areas involved. As I stated, there is a series of workshops in place and we hope to bring forward specific proposals early next year.

Senator Quinn raised concerns about substances of high concern in articles. This was also raised by Senator Leyden. The REACH regulation sets out the rules relating to giving consumers information. If there are gaps in compliance in that information, the Health and Safety Authority is equipped to deal with them and they should be brought to its attention.

Senator Carty asked about the role of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The naming of the pesticide control services in the Department reinforces its existing role in this area. It has maintained this role and it is an area on which it is particularly focused, with the Minister being designated as the national authority for the purposes of the Rotterdam regulation.

Senator Dearey spoke about a range of substances. More than 100 substances were identified earlier this year by the Commission for consideration as candidates for authorisation under REACH. These will be subject to appropriate scrutiny by the European Chemicals Agency experts who will involve the Health and Safety Authority in this process. The risk assessment and economic perspectives will be considered.

There were many queries and concerns about regulation. I appreciate Senator O'Toole's comments and I am certainly interested in pursuing further with Senator Quinn his proposals on employment impact assessments. The last thing we want to do in implementing regulations is to cause unemployment.

I thank Senators for their attention. It is proposed to take Committee and Remaining Stages on Thursday.