The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government has published a document outlining the Significant Water Management Issues for the third River Basin Management Plan for Ireland for public consultation.

Why we are launching this consultation?

Ireland is currently in the early stages of preparing the third cycle River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) under the Water Framework Directive. As part of this process we are required to publish a consultation document that sets out our understanding of the Significant Water Management Issues that need to be addressed in the period 2022 – 2027.

The purpose of this consultation phase is to gather your views on what are considered to be the significant water management issues for Ireland which should be addressed in the planning process for the next RBMP.

What we are looking for?

Deciding what to do about the significant water management issues is not something that we can do on our own. We need all sectors to play their part, to ensure the most appropriate actions are taken.

You are invited to provide your views on the significant issues identified, suggest additional actions that may be taken to address the issues and to identify any additional issues that may need to be addressed in the third River Basin Management Plan.

In seeking your views on the Significant Water Management Issues and their potential solutions, we have set out a number of specific questions in relation to each of the challenges outlined in the consultation document, a copy of which is available for download in the documents section of this web page.

By responding, you will be helping to shape the overall management of the water environment. The information gathered will help us prepare for the next cycle of the River Basin Management Plans, by influencing the content of the draft plan due to be published by December 2021

How to get involved?

When replying to this consultation, it would be of assistance if you could respond online at www.surveymonkey.com/r/3HGB3HZ . This will allow you to make your comments more effectively, while helping us to gather and summarise responses quickly and accurately.

However, if you would like to respond in another way, a consultation response template can be downloaded from the link in the documents section of this web page.  Completed templates should be emailed to rbmp@housing.gov.ie.

Alternatively, responses can be made in writing to:

SWMI Consultation
Water Advisory Unit
Department of Housing Planning and Local Government
Custom House
Dublin 1
D01 W6X0

You do not have to respond to every question in the consultation. If you have a specific area of interest, you are free to respond to just those questions.

The consultation period closes on Friday, 26 June 2020.

Receipt of submissions will be acknowledged but it will not be possible to issue individual responses.