Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 441: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his plans to publish the European Communities Agricultural Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation 2011; if the draft regulations will be published for consultation with all stakeholders including environmental groups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24766/11]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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On Thursday 8 September 2011, I signed into law the European Communities (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Agriculture) Regulations 2011 (S.I. No. 456 of 2011) to address the findings of the European Court of Justice against Ireland in the manner that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (85/337/EEC), as amended, was transposed into Irish law.

The Court found that Ireland was over-reliant on size thresholds and did not take other relevant criteria, such as the cumulative impacts of development, the location of the development or activity relative to sensitive sites etc, into account. The Regulations relate to three categories of projects - restructuring of rural land holdings, the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agriculture, and land drainage works on lands used for agriculture

The Regulations will be underpinned by a comprehensive guidance document. To facilitate consultation, the draft guidance document will be available on the Department's website from today and will invite relevant stakeholders to comment on this guidance during a consultation period of four weeks which will close on Friday the 21 October.