Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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413. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide details of Limerick County Council's involvement in stone quarrying and mining operations at Gooseberry Hill, Ballyorgan, Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54238/13]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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414. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the role the Environmental Protection Agency has in monitoring stone quarrying and mining operations, specifically at Gooseberry Hill, Ballyorgan, Limerick; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54239/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 413 and 414 together.

I have no function in the regulation of operations of this nature, which, for planning purposes are a matter for the local authority concerned, or for An Bord Pleanala on appeal, and for purposes of integrated pollution prevention and control licensing, where appropriate, are a matter for the EPA. Under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, as amended, I am precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by the EPA of its licensing and monitoring functions in specific cases. A small number of Irish extractive sites, subject to the EU Mining Waste Directive, are regulated by the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) licensing code, administered by the EPA as competent authority for the management of waste from extractive industries at Category A facilities under the Waste Management (Management of Waste from the Extractive Industries) Regulations 2009. The monitoring and enforcement of conditions attaching to IPPC licences are a matter for the EPA. All documents relating to IPPC licences are available to view on t he EPA’s website at .