Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 572: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if section 261 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000 has been brought into force; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40392/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Section 261 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 was commenced with effect from 28 April 2004. It introduced a once-off system of registration for all quarries, except those for which planning permission was granted in the preceding 5 years. Under the registration system quarry operators were required to supply full details of their operations to the planning authority, including information on the area of the quarry, the material being extracted, the hours of operation, and the traffic, noise and dust generated by the quarry. This information was required to be supplied within a year, i.e. by 27 April 2005.

Under Section 261, each planning authority was obliged, among other things:

to enter in its register the information required to be supplied by quarry owners as part of the registration procedure;

to publish a notice of registration in one or more newspapers circulating in its area not later than 6 months from the registration. This notice was required to state:

that the quarry had been registered in accordance with section 261;

whether the quarry had been granted planning permission or not;

where a quarry had been granted planning permission whether the planning authority was considering restating, modifying or adding to the conditions attached to the planning permission;

where a quarry had not been granted planning permission whether the planning authority was considering imposing conditions (for quarries which were operating prior to 1 October 1964) or requiring the quarry owner/operator to make a planning application and to submit an environmental impact statement;

the place or places where the register may be inspected; and

that submissions or observations regarding the operation of the quarry may be made to the planning authority within 4 weeks from the date of publication of the notice; and

to notify the quarry owner or operator of a proposal to impose, restate, modify or add to conditions on the operation of the quarry or to require a planning application to be made and an environmental impact statement to be submitted, after the 4 week period for observations or submissions had elapsed. The notice is required to state the reasons for the proposal, and that the owner or operator could make submissions or observations to the planning authority within a set period being not less than 6 weeks from the date of the notice.