Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Committee Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-25
============================================================

Joanne Collins (SF), Agricultural Panel

I move amendment No. 16:
In page 23, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following:
“(4A) In this section, ‘exceptional circumstances’ means circumstances that—
(a) arise from a unique and unforeseeable event, or a specific and demonstrable public necessity,
(b) cannot reasonably be addressed by compliance with the requirements of the EIA Directive within the timeframe necessary to avert serious risk to human health, safety, the environment or essential public services, and
(c) are strictly limited in scope, duration and geographic extent.
(4B) The Agency shall not grant an exemption unless, having regard to subsection (4A), it is satisfied on the basis of clear and convincing evidence that—
(a) the exemption is proportionate to the risk or necessity identified,
(b) no reasonable alternative exists that would allow compliance with the EIA Directive.
(4C) An exemption granted under this section shall specify:
(a) the reasons and evidence relied upon;
(b) the alternative assessment method and minimum content requirements;
(c) a maximum duration;
(d) any conditions, monitoring and reporting obligations necessary to avoid, prevent, reduce or offset significant adverse effects.”.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25