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Public Consultation: timetable and work programme for third cycle River Basin Management Plan for Ireland 2022-2027

Mr. Eoghan Murphy T.D. Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government has published the draft timetable and work programme for the third-cycle River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) 2022 – 2027, and launched an accompanying six-month public consultation.

The public consultation will run to end June 2019.

The timetable and work programme sets out the main steps and milestones in the three year process of preparing Ireland’s third River Basin Management Plan, which will be published in December 2021. It also highlights the measures which the Department will take to ensure comprehensive engagement with the public and to set out the agreed steps which will be taken to engage with all stakeholders across the work programme.

This is the first of three public consultation stages related to the three-year development of the third cycle River Basin Management Plan. Each public consultation will last for six months.

How to respond to the consultation?

A short, targeted questionnaire has been developed to facilitate responses to some of the key questions we have in relation to the development of the RBMP. The responses we receive to this questionnaire will allow us to determine the public opinion on the current RBMP and the level of engagement between the implementation bodies and the stakeholders. It will also help us to shape the development of the consultation process at different stages of the Plan and will guide us in our assessment of the success of the measures we have put in place in the current RBMP to improve water quality.

The questionnaire can be found in Appendix 1 of the consultation document (link below), and can also be completed on our website at the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3Q9VMS7

If you have any comments or suggestions outside of those topics covered in the questionnaire, you can also send them directly to us at: rbmp@housing.gov.ie

In addition, interested stakeholders can engage through the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) either at one of its public meetings, through its website: www.lawaters.ie(link is external), or by email: info@lawaters.ie.

Written submissions can be sent to:

RBMP Public Consultation
Water Division
Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
Custom House
Dublin 1
D01 W6X0

Interested parties are invited to make written submissions or comments no later than Friday, 28th June 2019.

Documents

All documents are available on the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government website.

About author

EPA Catchments Unit

Administrator

The EPA Catchments Unit is based in Dublin, and the team is involved with catchment science, chemistry, ecology, hydromorphology, modelling, Geographic Information Systems and planning. We work with the wider EPA, all of our local authorities, the Local Authority Waters and Communities Office, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, and other public bodies and Departments to ensure we have the best available data and information about our catchments.

Who is involved?
Quite simply, everyone in Ireland has a role to play. This can be from something as simple as making sure you don’t pollute your local stream, or a local community working together to establish a Rivers Trust to enhance the rivers and lakes in their area, to a Government Department or Agency helping a Minister implement a new policy to help protect and enhance all our water bodies.

This website has been developed and is maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, and is a collaboration between the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Local Authority Waters Programme.

Local Authority Waters Programme

The Local Authority Waters Programme coordinates the efforts of local authorities and other public bodies in the implementation of the River Basin Management Plan, and supports local community and stakeholder involvement in managing our natural waters, for everyone’s benefit.

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is responsible for coordinating the monitoring, assessment and reporting on the status of our 4,842 water bodies, looking at trends and changes, determining which waterbodies are at risk and what could be causing this, and drafting environmental objectives for each.

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage

The Department is responsible for making sure that the right policies, regulations and resources are in place to implement the Water Framework Directive, and developing a River Basin Management Plan and Programme of Measures to protect and restore our waters.