The Government will face tough questions from the European Commission during its structural fund negotiations over the environmental sustainability of its National Development Plan, Brussels sources confirm.
A series of complaints has been lodged with the Commission by Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE), which maintains that the plan is in repeated breach of Community policy. The protests have been backed by Ms Patricia McKenna MEP.
An earlier complaint about the manner in which the plan was being drawn up received assurances from both the Environment and Regional Affairs Commissioners, Ms Margot Wallstrom and Mr Michel Barnier respectively. The latter pledges that FIE's concerns "will figure centrally in the negotiations with the Commission on the new round of structural funds".
Although the commissioners take issue with the FIE view of an earlier ESRI paper on the environmental dimension of the national plan and welcomed some of the ESRI recommendations, both highlighted particular recommendations not taken up in the plan.
Ms Wallstrom's letter, dated November 18th but written without sight of the plan, says of the ESRI report that "the initial response of the Environment Directorate-General to this report (ESRI) is more encouraging than yours. Positive elements in the report are recognised.
"In particular, its recommended range of measures, such as transport demand management, the introduction of a carbon tax to reduce greenhouse gases, the preparation of a strategic physical planning framework and the application of the polluter-pays principle in relation to domestic water and waste treatment, as well as recommendations for a significant investment in public transport, would have positive environmental impacts and would represent a departure from current Government policy. "It remains, of course, to be seen to what extent the final plan incorporates such elements."
Neither the carbon tax nor the application of the polluter-pays principle in relation to domestic water and waste (that is, metering) form part of the specific proposals of the plan.
While the FIE complains that the plan contravenes EU policy in not including a comprehensive environmental assessment, in reality that is only required in the context of the application for the next round of structural funding.
The Commission's role will then be limited to determining whether the specific proposals for funding impinge on policy - roads and water certainly do - or whether, on other issues, Ireland is in breach of Community law.
The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, promised yesterday that the environmental assessment would be part of the "operational programme" and said the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, "has been to the forefront in ensuring that the plan is environmentally sound". Mr Dempsey would also be bringing forward proposals "within months" on meeting the State's greenhouse gas targets under the Kyoto agreement.
