John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 114: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has satisfied himself with the monitoring of environmental threats to human health; and the discussions his Department has had on the issue with the Department of Health and Children and the Health Service Executive since the Environmental Protection Agency's secretary general made it clear in 2003 that responsibility for monitoring human health effects of environmental issues was not a job for the EPA. [42611/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Environmental Protection Agency has a wide range of statutory duties and powers under the Environmental Protection Agency Act. The protection of human health is a primary consideration of the Agency.

In granting Integrated Pollution Protection and Control (IPPC) and Waste licenses, the Agency sets stringent emission limit values for pollutants and potential pollutants, to meet the accepted EU standards and guidelines as a minimum requirement. In addition, the Agency evaluates the potential impact of the maximum licensed emission on the environment surrounding any facility, to ensure that all EU standards for the environment and World Health Organisation guidelines will be met.

In continued recognition of the interaction between the environment and human health, formal links have been established between the Environmental Protection Agency and the Health Services Executive. This has resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding between the two bodies, signed in October 2006, affirming their commitment to on-going cooperation, in the interest of the protection of health and the environment. The Agency has also advertised for a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in its Environmental Research Centre whose remit will include developing a framework and initiatives to advance the interface between environmental protection and human health protection.