Shane Ross (Dublin South, Independent)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he is satisfied with reports of wasteful spending by the Environmental Protection Agency; and the measures he intends to take to end such extravagance. [20592/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a statutorily independent body which receives funding from my Department through the Environment Vote and from the Environment Fund. The EPA also derives income directly from some of its activities, particularly licensing activities.

The Agency is subject to the requirements of the Code of Practice on the Governance of State Bodies. It is statutorily required to prepare an annual report of its activities each year and to present this to me with its annual accounts, which are subject to external audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In this regard, the Comptroller and Auditor General has not identified any issues for concern in regard to the Agency's financial management and it is understood that the 2010 audit process is almost complete. Following submission of the annual report and accounts to the Government, they are then laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The Director General of the Agency is also accountable to the Public Accounts Committee.

One of the Agency's many important functions is to inform and educate the public, including young people, about Ireland's environment in order to achieve behavioural change in key areas such as waste minimisation, water conservation and climate change. This is a particularly challenging role given our changed economic environment and the EPA does this through various awareness-raising initiatives which aim to promote thought, debate and action on the environment. I believe awareness-raising initiatives and programmes, particularly for primary and secondary schools, are the way forward in addressing attitudes and behaviour in Ireland today and for its future generations. I will be asking the EPA to prioritise its core funding for 2012 and in that context to consider the usefulness of expenditure on awareness-related and promotional materials.

The changed economic circumstances and the application of the Employment Control Framework arrangements have affected all public bodies, including the EPA. Nonetheless, the EPA has continued to deliver a vital service with fewer resources in recent years and to meet its obligations under a wide range of EU and national legislation.