Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 389: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the size and scale of projects under Irish law that require an environmental impact assessment; the size and scale of developments that require an environmental impact assessment under EU directives; the scale of projects that require EIAs in other EU countries; if the scale of projects that require EIAs here is in line with other EU countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5701/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Council Directive 85/337/EEC on the assessment of the effect of certain public and private projects on the environment (as amended in 1997 and 2003) specifies projects which, by virtue of their nature, size or location are likely to have significant effects on the environment and should be subject to an environmental impact assessment (EIA).

Article 4(1) of the Directive requires projects listed in Annex I of the Directive to be subject to EIA, while Article 4(2) provides that for projects listed in Annex II of the Directive, Member States may determine, either through case by case examination or by setting thresholds or criteria, or both, whether such projects are to be subject to EIA.

The provisions of the EIA Directive are transposed into Irish legislation by the Planning and Development Act 2000 and the Planning and Development Regulations 2001. Schedule 5 of the 2001 Regulations specifies relevant development for the purposes of Part X of the Act, which deals with EIA. In accordance with the Directive, certain thresholds have been set below which development need not necessarily be subject to EIA. However, where a planning application for sub-threshold development is submitted to a planning authority, that authority may, where it considers that the development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment, require the submission of an environmental impact statement (EIS). Similarly, in the case of an appeal relating to a planning application for sub-threshold development, An Bord Pleanála may, where it considers that the development would be likely to have significant effects on the environment, require the submission of an EIS.

My Department does not have detailed information on the position regarding EIA requirements in the other 26 EU Member States.