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The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon
Coveney TD, has announced the publication of a Guidance Document
supporting the recently introduced Environmental Impact Assessment
(Agriculture) Regulations (SI No. 456/2011).
This Guidance is aimed at providing farmers with practical
information and assistance on the application of the newly
introduced screening and consent system in regard to certain
types of farm developments - including, restructuring of land
holdings, improvements to uncultivated or semi-natural areas
and land drainage.
The Minister stated - "The Regulations recently introduced
by both the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local
Government and myself were introduced to avoid the probability
of substantial fines arising from a European Court of Justice
ruling that Ireland had failed to adequately implement certain
aspects of the EIA directive. This Guidance Document will
help farmers to better understand the requirements of the
Regulations."
The Guidance Document is being published following a period
of public consultation and engagement. The Document was also
subject to agreement with the European Commission and together
with the Regulations now in place will form a significant
part of Ireland’s defence of the case before the Court.
While the Guidance Document deals with all elements of the
Regulations, the Minister singled out one topic that was raised
frequently during the consultation period - the definition
of 'wetlands' as opposed to what are 'wet type lands'.
The Minister said - "This issue was raised by many people
and was of significant concern. I believe that this Guidance
Document will give clarity to all on what areas are considered
to constitute wetlands and which remain under the responsibility
of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government
and the planning system implemented by the Local Authorities
and the significant areas of wet marginal lands and where
the responsibility for control will rest with my own Department."
Minister Coveney also outlined that the system of conducting
assessments was up and running and that 19 applications for
screening had been received to-date.
He said - "The application process has been kept as simple
and straight forward as possible and does not have any associated
application charges. My Department is also committed to conducting
assessments in the shortest timeframe possible."
The Minister added that the transfer of responsibility for
controlling the relevant activities from the planning system
to his Department was to ensure an accessible and understandable
system was put in place for farmers and the publication today
of this Guidance Document is aimed at supporting this objective.
The Guidance document has been uploaded to the Department's
website. The document will also be made widely available through
Department offices early in 2012.
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