Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know necessarily agree with that. Ministers have policy responsibility for their Departments. On our watch, we are moving to ratify that. Ireland signed the original amendment in 2005 and we strongly support the convention. The then Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in consultation with the then Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Foreign Affairs, considered there was a possibility of ratifying the treaty without the need for legislation. The Attorney General then advised that legislative changes would be necessary to ratify the amendment, however. Initially, it was proposed to piggyback the CPPNM amendments on legislation from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to ratify the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. The Department of Justice, however, decided not to proceed with this legislation at that time. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government then commenced the process of drafting a memorandum for government with the general scheme for the legislation at the end of 2012. There was a delay of some months because we were waiting to receive observations on the memorandum. It was decided to draft the legislation to merge the EPA and the RPII because it would not have been appropriate to have two Bills going through the Houses at the same time amending the same legislation. It was decided to combine the merger Bill with that to incorporate the terms of the CPPNM.

I sympathise with Senator Denis Landy’s point on the merger’s impact on the national radon control strategy. I hail from Mallow which has one of the highest incidences of radon in the country. The control strategy was prepared by an interagency group and published in February this year, setting out 48 recommendations with the ultimate aim of reducing the number of radon-related lung cancer cases from 250 per annum. Successful implementation of the strategy will require action from a range of Departments, public bodies and other stakeholders. A co-ordination group, chaired by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, has been established to monitor implementation of the strategy which will report annually on progress. In 2018, at the end of the four years covered by the action plan, it will make recommendations to the Government on what further actions it considers necessary. The comprehensive action plan which is being implemented will not be adversely affected by this merger. I understand Senator Cáit Keane is preparing a Bill to implement the recommendations of the national radon control strategy and has been in contact with the Minister in this respect.

Senator Mac Conghail raised the RPII’s monitoring of UK nuclear power plants. There is a mechanism by which we monitor Sellafield which this legislation will not change. He also referred to other specific nuclear sites and their proximity to Ireland which the Government should also monitor. There are open-ended engagements with the UK Government on all nuclear-related matters which the Department has worked on in recent years. This will continue and the merger of the two bodies will in no way lessen the high level of scrutiny applied to the Sellafield issue. A visit by the Department, EPA and RPII representatives to the Sellafield site is being arranged. Whether it can be expanded to include other sites can be discussed at another stage.

The aim of the Government’s agency rationalisation programme is to reduce the number of State bodies while integrating their roles and responsibilities with those of other existing bodies. There is no intention whatsoever to diminish the functions or role of either agency. Any reasonable assessment of this legislation will acknowledge that. It is envisaged that there would be costs savings of up to €260,000 per annum from 2016 onwards while there are other savings in the intervening period in staff efficiencies of €100,000 per annum. Further workforce planning, including a review of structures, roles and responsibilities, will be completed later this year.

That will further clarify and identify future needs and capacities as well as scope for further efficiencies.