Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This amendment ensures that the agency has discretion in granting a licence to abstractors who have come to its attention for breaches of a licence where the agency, in its expert opinion, believes that such breaches do not warrant outright refusal of a future licence. In some cases, these breaches will be minor and amenable to simple rectification through the standard enforcement actions. It should be noted that this will include large bodies, in particular Irish Water, which, by the nature of its work as well as the scale and scope of that work, has breached the conditions of its existing licences, such as the wastewater discharge licences. These breaches will have been met with enforcement action from the EPA and should not preclude Irish Water from holding another licence or authorisation in all cases.