Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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1251. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the Ministers and their Departments that now have statutory responsibilities regarding the environment, detailing each of the statutory responsibilities. [19301/17]

Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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1252. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the Ministers that now have responsibilities relating to the environment; the exact responsibilities relating to the environment of each of those Ministers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20381/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1251 and 1252 together.

Following the reorganisation of Departments in 2016, my Department took over responsibility for the following areas from the then Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government:

Environment Policy & Awareness;

Climate Policy;

EU and International Environmental Policy;

Waste Policy & Resource Efficiency;

Air Quality/Environmental Radiation Policy;

the Environment Advisory Unit.

Details are set out in the Climate Action and Environment (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2016, S.I. No. 393 of 2016. 

Other Government Departments have responsibility for functions that could be broadly classified as "environmental functions". For example:

responsibility for water quality rests with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government; and

responsibility for biodiversity rests with the National Parks and Wildlife Services of the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.