Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 102: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress made to date in 2005 by the task force set up in his Department to establish strategies to address the range of environmental complaints against Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36647/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The task force set up in my Department to address the range of environmental complaints against Ireland in a more comprehensive way has had four formal meetings to date.

In addressing its work, the task force has built on an intensified engagement by my Department with Commission officials and with relevant implementing agencies in Ireland.

The task force participated in a two-day meeting with Commission officials in Dublin in October. This meeting provided an opportunity for an in-depth examination of a number of cases as well as an exchange of views on broader administrative and procedural issues.

The task force has undertaken a systematic and comprehensive analysis including an ongoing review on a regular basis of cases that are the subject of infringement proceedings by the European Commission and for which my Department is responsible. This analysis, ongoing monitoring and improved reporting measures have facilitated accelerated responses by Ireland to Commission concerns.