Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether all the requirements of the Aarhus Convention and the Public Participation Directive are applicable to the development of an incinerator at Ringaskiddy, County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44614/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Ireland signed the Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters on 25 June 1998. Progress towards ratification of the Convention is closely aligned with work at EU level and in that context, the European Union has adopted two Directives as part of the ratification process for the Convention. These deal with public access to environmental information (2003/4/EC) and public participation in certain environmental decision-making procedures (2003/35/EC). The European Communities (Access to Information on the Environment) Regulations 2007 came into effect on 1 May 2007. These Regulations transpose EU Directive 2003/4/EC on Public access to environmental information.

Transposition of EU Directive 2003/35/EC on Public Participation in certain environmental decision making procedures requires the amendment of a number of consent systems relevant to two existing Directives — the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive and the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive. The process to transpose the Public Participation Directive is already well advanced, with legislation completed to amend the majority of the relevant consent systems. The planning consent system has been amended and is now fully compliant with the Public Participation Directive.

The Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure Act) 2006 introduced a number of key measures which are designed to ensure that projects which go through the new strategic consent process are subject to even greater public scrutiny than projects which go through the normal planning process, both at pre-application and application stage.

The existing planning system is an inclusive one that provides for extensive public participation at various stages and ensures that all concerns can be fully taken into account.