Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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619. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the status of the signing into law of the statutory instrument to enact the European Union (Licensing of Large-Scale Extraction of Peat) Regulations 2018; the timeframe for completion of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49319/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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My Department is actively progressing the drafting of European Union Regulations with a view to putting in place as speedily as possible a robust and effective legislative underpinning for a new regulatory system for the large-scale peat extraction sector. 

Under the new system, the Environmental Protection Agency will be required to carry out environmental impact assessment as part of its examination of licence applications for peat extraction on sites of 30 hectares or more, and such activity will be exempted from the requirement to obtain planning permission. 

The draft regulations have been the subject of focused stakeholder input from relevant Government Departments and State bodies, industry representatives and environmental groups.  Consultations are continuing with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and the EPA with a view to finalising the draft regulations, and deciding on the appropriate Minister to sign these regulations, as soon as possible. However, before these regulations can be made, Regulations transposing relevant elements of the 2014 Environmental Impact Assessment (Directive 2014/52/EU) must first be made by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment and my Department is awaiting confirmation of the making of those Regulations.