Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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218. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the screening procedures undertaken and communicated to the public here to determine whether a transboundary impact on the environment and-or human health is likely from an application in Northern Ireland for an installation for the intensive rearing of pigs and poultry, further to Ireland’s and the UK's obligations under the environmental impact assessment directive. [22929/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In the first instance, it is the responsibility for Northern Ireland or UK authorities to ensure that they comply fully with the obligations under relevant EU obligations, including in respect of transboundary consultation requirements under the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo Convention) and Directive 2011/92/EU relating to Environmental Impact Assessment.

My Department has requested the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure to provide certain information in relation to the proposed development referred to in the Question, with a view to establishing whether the development is considered likely to have significant effects on the environment in Ireland and whether the transboundary consultation provisions in the Espoo Convention and EIA Directive should be applied in this case.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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219. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when Ireland plans to ratify the second amendment to the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context published in 2004 which came into force on 23 October 2017 and which has been ratified by 32 nations; and if Ireland is committed to this international convention and will ratify the second amendment without further delay. [22930/18]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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220. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if Ireland has undertaken the legislative changes necessary to comply fully with transboundary obligations under the environmental impact assessment directive and the Espoo Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context. [22931/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 219 and 220 together.

Section 174 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and Chapter 5 of Part 10 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, relating to consultations about the transboundary environmental effects of proposed developments that are subject to environmental impact assessment (EIA), comply fully with the requirements of EIA Directive 2011/92/EU and the text of the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (the Espoo Convention), as ratified by Ireland.

The changes to the transboundary requirements set out in the most recent EIA Directive 2014/52/EU will be brought into force in Ireland as part of the overall transposition of the 2014 Directive, work on which is proceeding as a priority across all relevant Government Departments.

The Second Amendment to the Espoo Convention contains measures that are not included in either the 2011 or 2014 EIA Directives or in domestic planning legislation and will be considered further in the context of ratification by Ireland of the Amendment.