Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 205: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will accept that the implementation of the Seveso directive here through the designation of large safety zones over massive tracts of land, most of which are not owned by the operators of the plants in question, results in the diminution of third party property rights together with the [i]de facto[/i] handing over of such rights to the owners of the said plants, and that such action is totally at odds with the polluter pays principle; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7842/07]

Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Council Directive 96/82/EC — the Seveso II directive as amended by Directive 2003/105/EC — was transposed into Irish law through the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 74 of 2006). The Seveso Directives require that preventing major accidents and limiting the consequences of such accidents be taken into account by the Member States in their land use policies and or other relevant policies.

The Directives require that, in the interest of safety, these policies must take account of the need, in the long term, to maintain appropriate distances between establishments covered by the directive and residential areas, areas of public use and areas of particular natural sensitivity or interest. The Directives further require that the procedures set up to implement these policies must be designed to ensure technical advice on the risks arising from the establishment is available, on a case by case or on a generic basis, when decisions on land use planning are taken.

Under these Regulations, the Health and Safety Authority has a role in providing technical advice to the planning authorities in the context of land use planning. The decisions on land use planning, however, are a matter for the planning authorities, including in relation to the siting and any subsequent granting of permission for additional development of plants which fall under the terms of the European Communities (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2006 (S.I. No. 74 of 2006). Issues concerning the Planning and Development Act 2000, which governs land use planning, are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.