Published: August 2014
The Programme for Government, agreed in June 2007, contained a commitment to carry out a review of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Review commenced in 2010 and its purpose was, among other things, to assess the performance of the EPA against its mandate, and to review the resources allocated to the EPA in light of its current obligations and likely future obligations.
The membership of the Review Group brought together a broadly based spectrum of expertise relevant to the work of the EPA, including academic experts from a wide range of environmental areas (environmental law, water quality, biodiversity, human health), as well as persons with relevant experience and expertise in the industrial and agricultural sectors, the Non-Governmental sector and the public sector at both Government Department and agency levels.
The Review Group were:
Mr. John McCarthy (Chair) Assistant Secretary, Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government
Mr. Dick Budden Director (Ireland), Carbon Disclosure Project
Dr. Kenneth Irvine School of Natural Science, Zoology Department, Trinity College Dublin
Mr. Fred Langeweg Former Deputy Director, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Mr. Richard Moeran Farmer and Forester
Mr. Jack O’Sullivan Director, Environmental Management Services
Dr. Áine Ryall Law Faculty, University College Cork
Prof. Anthony Staines School of Nursing, Dublin City University
Mr. Larry Stapleton Former Director, Environmental Protection Agency
The Review was completed in 2011 and found that the EPA overall has provided ‘considerable benefit for Ireland’s environment and for the health and well-being of its people’.
The assessment of the EPA was structured under a number of themes including:
– Governance Internal Structure and Resources;
– Licensing, Assessment and Monitoring;
– Environmental Research and Information;
– Relationship with Stakeholders and
– Legislative Framework