Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Question 23: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the preparation of River Basin Management Plans according to information available to his Department; when he expects these plans to be prepared. [9519/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I refer to the reply to Question No. 432 of 23 February 2009, in which I indicated that the making of a river basin management plan is a function reserved to local authorities. In December 2008, local authorities published craft River Basin Management Plans for each of the River Basin Districts. These draft plans were open to public consultation for a period of six months up to June 2009 and over 300 submissions from interested parties were received.

The plans are currently being finalised for adoption by the relevant local authorities and will be published in the coming months. They will specify the environmental objectives to be achieved in relation to water bodies and the measures to be implemented in order to achieve these objectives. The programmes of measures must be operational by the end of 2012.