EIA Portal: Information for Applicants

Before lodging an application to a competent authority for any form of development consent accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR), you must notify the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage about that application, and provide information on the proposed development for inclusion on the EIA Portal which identifies its location. The applicant provides a brief description of the proposed development, the name of the developer and the name of the competent authority to which the application will be made.

This notification and information should be provided in line with the procedures and process for the type of development consent for which you are applying. For example, in the case of an application under the Foreshore Act 1933 to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, the notification to the EIA Portal must be before the newspaper notice of the application is published.

If you are an applicant you should download and complete the below form:

You must give details of the following:

• applicants name
• applicants email address (to facilitate queries and return of confirmation of receipt of required information) and contact phone number:- neither email or phone number will be published on the EIA Portal;
• name of a contact person, if different to the Applicant
• the location of the proposed development. You will be limited to 256 characters when filling in this field on the form. If the full address exceeds this limit, for instance if the development extends over a number of townlands or has frontage onto a number of roads, please describe the location by reference to a nearby town or village. The full address of the proposed development will be visible in the copy of the public notice that will be on the EIA Portal
• a description of the development. You will also be limited to 256 characters when filling in this field. If the full description exceeds this limit, please describe the development in a manner that will enable the public to understand in general terms the proposed development. For example, “Windfarm with 10 turbines, tip height 155m, and connection to National Grid” may be sufficient, and reference to access roads, foundations, fencing, electricity substation, intended duration of the permission, etc. could be omitted. The full details of the proposed development will be visible in the copy of the public notice that will be on the EIA Portal
• the competent authority to which the application will be made. Where it is necessary to apply for development consent requiring EIA to more than one competent authority (for example planning permission and a licence from the Environmental Protection Agency), separate notification to the EIA Portal will be required for each application. Separate notification will be required even where applications for consent are being made simultaneously;
• select “Yes” or “No”, as appropriate, for linear developments. Typically, this will be for a road, electricity transmission cable, pipeline or similar. Where a development has a distinct linear element (for example a site-specific development with an associated linear element, such as a windfarm with an off-site grid connection), select “Yes”.

All sections of the application form must be completed in full.

When completed, please save the form, noting the file name and its location. Once completed and saved, the form must be submitted to the department, attached to an email to EIAPortal@housing.gov.ie Please include “EIA Notification” in the subject line of the email.

You must include the below documents with your form:

• a searchable electronic copy of the proposed newspaper notice (such as a searchable PDF file). The notice must be the public notice intended to be published in a newspaper to meet the public notice requirements under the legislation governing the development consent procedure governing the application. This will be placed on the EIA Portal
• a site location map to assist the EIA Portal administrator to accurately locate the proposed development on the EIA Portal. The location map must be of sufficient size and contain details of features in the vicinity to facilitate the identification of the site. It must be marked so as to identify clearly the land or structure to which the application relates, showing the boundaries in red. It should be to a scale of not less than 1:1,000 in built up areas and 1:2,500 in all other areas (with the scale identified). Where a site map to the correct scale is inconvenient to identify the location of the proposed development, please contact the EIA Portal to agree an appropriate scale. The site map will not be placed on the EIA Portal. The site location map file should be in PDF format.

The overall size limit for the email and attachments is 18MB.

You will receive an automatically generated acknowledgement email from EIAPortal@housing.gov.ie following receipt of the EIA notification by the department.

If you do not receive this automatic acknowledgement, please ensure that the overall file size is within the permitted size limit. If problems persist, please contact the EIA Portal administrator at the contacts listed below.

Within 3 working days of submitting the EIA Notification i.e. completed form, public notice and site map, you will receive either:

• email confirmation notice that the EIA Notification has been successfully included on the EIA Portal.
• a request for further clarification or information from the EIA Portal administrator regarding the notification

The information uploaded to the EIA Portal will be viewable on the site from the time of issue of the confirmation notice. Please note that the confirmation notice must be submitted with your application to the relevant competent authority.

After receipt and initial processing of your application for development consent, the competent authority will provide the EIA Portal with a file reference number for your application and the URL to link to the application on their website and any documents, including EIAR, associated with the application. The file number and URL will be associated with the relevant notification on the EIA Portal.

Once the file number and URL are associated with the information on the EIA Portal, please note that no further information will be added to the EIA Portal. The initial notification will not be updated with information on the application such as any decision, further information, withdrawal or invalidation of the application. Information as the application progresses should be available on the relevant competent authority’s website.