Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 557: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the dealings that he or agencies under the control of his Department have had with the business sector which incur regulatory costs or compliance costs on behalf of business; if he has identified the baseline cost profile for business associated with that activity; if he has set targets for the reduction of these different cost items; and the cost and the target reduction in each case. [25267/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Data which would enable regulatory or compliance costs for the business sector, as referred to in the question, to be established are not currently available. My Department, however, is represented on the cross-Departmental High Level Group on Business Regulation, chaired by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment which is tasked with taking concrete measures to reduce administrative burdens in five specific regulatory areas (including the environment), based primarily on suggestions put forward by the business sector. It is planned that a report on progress made by the group will be prepared for Government by the end of July 2008.

At an EU level, the European Council agreed at its meeting in March 2007 that reducing administrative burdens was an important measure for boosting Europe's economy, especially through its impact on SMEs. The Council agreed, therefore, that administrative burdens arising from EU legislation should be reduced by 25% by 2012. My Department has been working with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in contributing to this project.

In addition, arising from a Government decision in March 2008, Ireland has also set a national target of 25% for the reduction in the administrative burden on businesses arising from domestic regulations. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is coordinating the process and is currently finalising the approach and methodology for all Departments to implement the Government decision.