Oral hearings

Anyone who makes a valid objection to a proposed determination can request an oral hearing. A request must include the €100 fee (in addition to the objection fee) and be received within the 28-day objection period. This period commences on the date of notification of the proposed determination by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA has absolute discretion to hold an oral hearing, whether or not a request has been made.

Factors

While there is no specific statutory criteria governing the decision to hold one, factors that would influence us include:

  • new issues not previously raised that are specific to the location of the development;
  • the sensitivity of the location or local environment;
  • if the matter is of national or regional importance;
  • the scale and complexity of the development; or
  • significant new information.

Can I withdraw an oral hearing request?

A request for an Oral Hearing can be withdrawn at any time prior to it being considered by the Board of the Agency.

Learn more

Aspects of Licensing Procedures: Objections and Oral Hearings to find out more about oral hearings.

Oral Hearing FAQs

Oral Hearing FAQ's

An Oral Hearing is a forum for all parties to an objection to orally express their objections and concerns about a Proposed Determination. It provides the applicant, objector(s) and the local authority (where relevant) the opportunity to appear in person and/or to be represented by another person.

 

Browse the FAQ's to learn more

  • When is a landfill subject to the IED?

    Text of class 11.5 of the First Schedule of the EPA Act 1992 as amended:

    Landfills, within the meaning of section 5 (amended by Regulation 11(1) of the Waste Management (Certification of Historic Unlicenced Waste Disposal and Recovery Activity) Regulations 2008 (S.I. No. 524 of 2008)) of the Act of 1996, receiving more than 10 tonnes of waste per day or with a total capacity exceeding 25,000 tonnes, other than landfills of inert waste.

    Text of class 5.4 of Annex I of the IED:

    Landfills, as defined in Article 2(g) of Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste receiving more than 10 tonnes of waste per day or with a total capacity exceeding 25,000 tonnes, excluding landfills of inert waste.

    The definition of landfill, as referenced in section 5 of the Act of 1996 and Article 2(g) of the Landfill Directive, is:

    "landfill" means a waste disposal site for the deposit of waste onto or into land (i.e. underground), including:

    • internal waste disposal sites (i.e. landfill where a producer of waste is carrying out its own waste disposal at the place of production), and
    • a permanent site (i.e. more than one year) which is used for temporary storage of waste, but excluding
    • facilities where waste is unloaded in order to permit its preparation for further transport for recovery, treatment or disposal elsewhere, and
    • storage of waste prior to recovery or treatment for a period less than three years as a general rule, or
    • storage of waste prior to disposal for a period less than one year.

    It would be convenient to limit the application of IED to those landfills subject to the Landfill Directive. However the definition of class 11.5 is silent on the applicability of the Landfill Directive and simply refers to landfills, potentially meaning all landfills, regardless of the applicability of the Landfill Directive or status of operations – e.g. operational, aftercare.

    The definition of class 5.4 in the Directive indicates that landfills are as defined in the Landfill Directive, but does not restrict the application of IED to those landfills subject to the Landfill Directive.

    Article 82 of the Industrial Emissions Directive states (paraphrased) the following:In relation to installations carrying out activities referred to in Annex I, …point 5.4 … which are in operation and hold a permit before 7 January 2013…, Member States shall apply the laws, regulations, and administrative provisions adopted in accordance with Article 80(1) from 7 January 2014….

    Article 76A(8) of the Waste Management Act 1996 as amended, states, in relation to class 11.5 (landfill) activities, that the Agency shall, by 7 January 2014, examine the terms of every waste licence and determine whether, having regard to the provisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive, the waste licence is to be amended to bring it into conformity with the Directive.

    The provisions of the Industrial Emissions Directive (Article 82) state that the Directive should be applied to installations “which are in operation”. The Agency will apply the provisions of the IED only to those landfills “which are in operation”. The Landfill Directive differentiates between two principal phases of a landfill – the operational phase and the aftercare phase. The provisions of the IED will be applied to those landfills that remain in the operational phase. The Landfill Directive is silent on the closure phase as being a distinct phase, therefore the operational phase will be taken to include the period of time during which closure procedures are being implemented. The onus will be on the landfill operator (licensee) to demonstrate the documented achievement of site closure in accordance with the CRAMP (including verification of definite closure by OEE) and demonstrate that the site has entered the aftercare phase before 7 January 2014.


     

  • How do I interpret the term "pre-treatment" as it pertains to activities under class 11.4(a)(iii) and 11.4(b)(ii)?

    The term "pre-treatment" is not defined in the Industrial Emissions Directive.  The term "treatment" is defined in the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) as:

    'recovery or disposal operations, including preparation prior to recovery or disposal'.

    The term 'treatment' has the same meaning as 'pre-treatment'.

    Operators who carry out recovery and/or disposal activities on waste followed by dispatch of the waste for incineration or co-incineration should be regarded as carrying out “pre-treatment of waste for incineration or co-incineration” for the purposes of the new First Schedule.

    When deciding whether an activity comprises “pre-treatment of waste for incineration or co-incineration” for the purposes of the new First Schedule, applicants should consider what happens within the waste facility that is to be authorised, and not any treatment or pre-treatment that took place previously at another facility or the presence of waste segregation practices at the point of waste collection.

    The following should not generally be regarded as constituting "pre-treatment of waste for incineration or co-incineration":

    • the incidental generation of waste from waste treatment activities and the dispatch of such incidental waste for incineration.

    Solid recovered fuels and refuse derived fuels are often but not always produced to a technical specification that might also comprise a quality standard and/or a quality assurance scheme.  They are also often produced to be classified by the EWC codes 191210 or 191212.  The absence of:

    • a technical specification,
    • a quality standard, 
    • a quality assurance scheme, and/or 
    • EWC codes 19 12 10 and 19 12 12

    for a solid recovered fuel or refuse derived fuel is not indicative that an activity does not comprise "pre-treatment of waste for incineration or co-incineration".

     

     

  • When is storage of waste an IED activity?

    The storage of waste is a (pre-)treatment operation. In the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC), ‘treatment’ means recovery or disposal operations, including preparation prior to recovery or disposal. Disposal and recovery operations are listed (in a non-exhaustive list) in Annex I and II respectively of the Directive. Activities D15 and R13 are storage operations, as follows:

    • D15 Storage pending any of the operations numbered D1 to D14 (excluding temporary storage, pending collection, on the site where the waste is produced.
    • R13 Storage pending any of the operations numbered R1 to R12 (excluding temporary storage, pending collection, on the site where the waste is produced.

    If the storage operation takes place in what might be called the supply chain for 'pre-treatment of waste for incineration or co-incineration', then it is IED if over threshold because storage of waste is a waste recovery or disposal operation and therefore treatment

     

  • When does the slaughtering activity end and food production begin at an installation?

    Having regard to the scope of both the Slaughterhouses and Animal by-products Industries BREF and the Food, Drink and Milk Industries BREF, the ‘slaughter’ activity (class 7.4.1) is considered to end with the making of standard cuts for large animals and the production of a clean whole carcase for poultry.  Standard cuts are defined as carcases, half carcases, half carcases cut into no more than three wholesale cuts and quarters.  Chilling is considered part of the slaughtering class, if it is chilling of the carcase or standard cuts.  For the purposes of clarity, the slaughter activity covers the removal of offal and appendages. 

     

    Whereas the deboning of carcases, mincing and packaging for retail etc. at meat installations are food production activities (class 7.8(a)(i)).   The production of food from animal raw materials with a finished product production capacity of greater than 75 tonnes/day (class 7.8(a)(i)) at a meat installation is an additional licensable activity to the slaughtering activity where it is carried on at the same installation.

     

  • When does Class 11.6 apply?

    A Class 11.6 activity is the temporary storage of hazardous waste pending any of the activities referred to in paragraph 11.2, 11.3, 11.5 or 11.7 with a total capacity exceeding 50 tonnes.  It does not apply to the temporary storage of hazardous waste on the site where the waste is generated and is awaiting collection. 

    For example installations undertaking solvent reclamation or regeneration at a capacity greater than 10 tonnes/day, may also have a dedicated storage area for the associated hazardous waste.  Where the capacity of that dedicated waste storage area is greater than 50 tonnes, then class 11.6 applies.   It may be the case that the hazardous waste was generated on the site but as it is also undergoing solvent recovery at the installation, the dedicated storage area associated with the solvent recovery activity must be considered in the context of class 11.6.