Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 July 2025
80. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment for an update on his Department’s role in co-ordinating and collating Ireland’s position on the EU proposal for a ban on lead in ammunition and fishing tackle under the REACH regulation; including the current position Ireland is taking on this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36347/25]
View answerOfficials in my Department continue to circulate to relevant Departments and Agencies material received for REACH Committee Meetings where the agenda includes the draft restriction on lead in ammunition and fishing tackle.
Ireland is represented at the REACH Committee by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), an agency under the aegis of my Department, hence the Departmental coordination role. The draft restriction was discussed at the February, April and June REACH Committee meetings. Discussions on this matter are expected to continue at the October REACH Committee Meeting.
I do not have policy responsibility for the legislation this restriction would effect should it progress into law and while my Department has a coordination role, it has no role in the formulation of the Irish position. It would be a matter for the relevant Government Departments concerned whether to disclose their position in relation to their respective policy areas.
The breadth of this proposed restriction spans several Government Departments and Agencies: the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment; the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; the National Parks and Wildlife Service; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Inland Fisheries and the Department of Justice.
