Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan.

In October 2012 the European Commission published proposals to amend the environmental impact assessment Directive. According to the Commission, the proposed new directive is aimed at strengthening existing provisions concerning the quality of environmental impact assessment, with the aim of achieving a high level of environmental protection. It is also intended to enhance policy coherence and synergies with other EU law instruments and "simplify" procedures, with a view to reducing unnecessary administrative burdens. Some of the main features of the draft proposals include a requirement that projects which require assessment of environmental impacts under both the EIA Directive and the IPPC Directive, among other directives, would have to be assessed in an integrated or co-ordinated manner, including the appointment of one competent or facilitating authority; mandatory provision of a large amount of screening information, by the applicant, for all Annex II type projects; mandatory and reasonably elaborate screening decisions to be made by consent authorities for all Annex II projects; mandatory scoping of the environmental impact statement, now called the environmental report, by the consent authority in all cases where an EIA is required; accreditation of persons deemed competent to do environmental reports; and all environmental impact assessments to be completed by the competent authority within six months of receipt of all relevant information.

The proposals have been the subject of detailed discussed at the European Council working party on the environment and the Irish Presidency held an orientation debate on some of their key features at the Council of Environment Ministers in March. On foot of this debate, the Irish Presidency prepared and circulated to delegations a revised text of the proposed directive, taking account of the views expressed by Ministers. In parallel with these discussions at the Council, the European Parliament has been considering the draft directive. The European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety voted on the rapporteur's report on the draft directive last week, adopting a number of amendments to the text. The rapporteur did not propose to cast a vote on the opening of inter-institutional negotiations. This issue will, therefore, be submitted to plenary and the Parliament's First Reading position will then be communicated to the Council.

It is anticipated that further consideration of the draft directive at the working party on the environment under the Lithuanian Presidency will be informed by the final position of the European Parliament once the First Reading position has been adopted by plenary vote and formally communicated to the European Council. The two European institutions, the Council and the Parliament, are engaging in the process. The Senator has also referred to the fact that the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Pat Rabbitte, has a specific role with regard to fracking, but he is not about to make any decision on it in the near future.