Integration

The environment and its protection are not stand-alone issues but are intimately bound up with social and economic issues also.  Some may think that environmental regulation represents sand in the cogs of the economy, resulting only in burdens on business, inefficiency and lower competitiveness.  The recent global collapse of the banking and financial sectors due to inadequate regulation should be a warning to us all that the planet, which provides all of our resources for living, needs to be protected for us and for future generations.

The aim must be to develop sustainably – that is a pattern of resource use that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met into the future. 

The incorporation of environmental considerations into social and economic plans and programmes is one of the main environmental challenges facing Ireland at present.