FlANNA Fail's environment policy would have positive and very significant implications for industry, the party said yesterday.
The workings of a new national partnership structure, mirroring the partnership structure for the economy, and changes to the planning laws for industry were among the measures outlined by the party's environment spokesman, Mr Noel Dempsey, when he addressed the inaugural meeting of the environment committee of the Small Firms Association.
An environmental partnership forum, chaired by the Taoiseach, would be set up and would include the existing social partners as well as community groups and environmental non-governmental organisations.
The forum would decide a "binding national plan for sustainable development" which would then be implemented at local level via the drawing up of a series of regional plans.
The regional plans would be "binding on all sectors
Under the Fianna Fail proposals, the Environmental Impact Assessment process would be separated from the company seeking planning permission and would be independent and be seen to be independent, he said.
Other measures being proposed: are:
. Land to be zoned industrial would go through the full planning process in order to be so zoned;
. Firms would have to mitigate their negative impact on the environment through positive actions elsewhere
. A sectoral approach will be used to improve the environmental performance of industry;
. Firms dealing with the public service will have to meet certifiable standards of environmental practice and priority for grants; will be given to products that utilise recycled materials from Irish sources.
Fianna Fail will withdraw Forbairt from the provision of environmental consultancy services to focus on job creation, but set up a section within Forbairt to develop employment opportunities in the environmental protection industry.
"Protecting the environment has now become a business in itself," Mr Dempsey said.
"Creating and supplying firms and governments with the technology and systems to comply with higher environmental standards is now worth about £159 billion globally. Half this market is in Europe. Innovative Irish firms are ideally placed to take a slice of this growing sector."
