Hydrogen Ireland have welcomed news that a national policy position on the environment will be published by the government in 2023. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Ireland’s environmental regulator, had been calling for an overarching policy position on the environment for many years.
In its 2020 State of the Environment Report, the EPA said the Irish government needed to form an “overall integrated national environmental policy position, or it risks existing environmental protection measures failing or competing with each other”.
A spokesman for the Department of Environment confirmed that the government would publish a national policy position on the environment in 2023. “There is a strong commitment by the government to the environment, as set out in the Programme for Government,” the spokesman said.
“Structures are in place across Government to facilitate coherent and coordinated policy development and implementation. This includes structures to enable a whole-of-Government response in key areas. The Department will commence work, in the near future, on an overarching statement on environment policy – to be published by Government in 2023.”
Speaking to the Sunday Business Post last month, Laura Burke, director general of the EPA, said a national policy position on the environment should be a “no brainer” but still hadn’t been devised. “What we have is lots of individual plans and programs. So we’ve got a climate programme, we’ve got a water programme, we’ve got air quality plans, but they’re all separate and they are all looking at that particular environmental challenge from that lens,” Burke said.
“This is something that really will be important, and it will bring various actors together. So it’s something that you could have various government departments, you can have communities, you can have businesses, you can have individual citizens, all with the AI and that individual prize.”
The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications together with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage are the lead departments in relation to many environmental areas. The two departments will be central in developing the national policy position on the environment, which will reflect broader regional ambitions such as the European Green Deal.
