Summary: Through the National SEA (Environmental Authority) Technical Forum the 5 SEA statutory environmental authorities in Ireland have jointly developed an SEA Action Plan to implement the key priority recommendations of the SEA Effectiveness Review. The implementation of this Action Plan will be dependent on a shared responsibility in delivering the key priority recommendations.
Under the SEA Regulations (S.I. No’s 435/436 of 2004, and amending Regulations S.I. No’s 200/ 201 of 2011), there are five designated statutory environmental authorities for SEA in Ireland. These are the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht – to be consulted on architectural and archaeological heritage and nature conservation, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine – to be consulted on fisheries and the marine environment, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources – to be consulted on fisheries and the marine environment and the Environmental Protection Agency.
The five statutory authorities have in 2012 established a National SEA (Environmental Authority) Technical Forum, in response to the recommendations of the SEA Review. The statutory environmental authorities have jointly formulated this SEA Review Action Plan for the period 2012–2016 with the overall objectives of prioritising the implementation of the key findings and recommendations of the SEA Review and to improve overall SEA effectiveness in Ireland. The implementation of this Action Plan is dependent on a shared responsibility by the statutory environmental authorities in delivering the key recommendations and this is reflected in the Responsible Authority(ies) column. The SEA Review Report is published alongside this Action Plan and can be accessed on www.epa.ie
