Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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296. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to review water extraction regulations; the previous times such regulations on extracting water from rivers were reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30712/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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An assessment of the impact of abstraction pressures on river, lakes and groundwater bodies was undertaken for the purpose of the current draft River Basin Management Plan for Ireland 2018-2021, which was published in February 2017. The draft Plan is currently undergoing six months public consultation. Formal consultation on the draft Plan will close on the 31 August 2017 and the plan will be finalised towards the end of this year.  A copy of the draft Plan can be found at the following link:  . The assessment carried out for the purposes of the draft Plan shows that the level of risk due to abstraction pressures in Ireland is low.

Notwithstanding this, Ireland is obliged to comply with the provisions of the Water Framework Directive in relation to the abstraction of water. This requires as a minimum that we maintain a register of water abstractions and have in place a requirement for prior authorisation for all significant water abstractions. Existing Irish law in relation to abstractions goes back to 1942 and is not sufficiently comprehensive to address modern day needs. My Department is currently reviewing these needs and, as set out in the draft River Basin Management Plan, I will be bringing forward proposals to establish a comprehensive and maintained register of water abstractions greater than 25 cubic meters per day and also examining options for developing a proportionate and risk-based framework for the licensing of larger scale abstractions to ensure continued sustainable use of our water resources.