5.—(1) F16[(a) The Agency may, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and such other Minister of the Government as the Agency considers appropriate, grant, or refuse to grant, a permit to a person who applies to the Agency for a permit authorising the dumping of a specified vessel, aircraft or offshore installation, or a specified quantity of a specified substance or material in a specified place within a specified period of time or the loading onto the vessel or aircraft, of a specified quantity of a specified substance or material at a specified place within a specified period of time, which is intended to be dumped from the vessel or aircraft concerned.]

(b) In deciding whether to grant or refuse a permit under this subsection, F17[the Agency shall] consider—

(i) the provisions establishing criteria governing the grant of a permit for dumping which are set out in the First Schedule to this Act, and

(ii) (I) the exceptions to the prohibition on dumping as contained in the extracts from Annex II to the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic done at Paris on the 22nd day of September, 1992, which are set out in Part 1 of the Second Schedule to this Act, or

(II) the exceptions to the prohibition on dumping set out in Part 2 of the said Schedule and permitted under Annex III to the said Convention,

F18[as may be appropriate, and]

F19[(iii) in relation to the proposed dredging and dumping of any substance or material, any submission or observations made by a person, and comments made by an applicant, under section 5A.]

F20[(2) A person who applies to the Agency for a permit under this section shall furnish to the Agency such information as the Agency may consider necessary for the purpose of the exercise of functions under this section, including, where so requested by the Agency, information that will satisfy the Agency that there is no suitable alternative means of disposal of the vessel, aircraft, offshore installation, substance or material concerned.

(3) A permit under this section shall contain such conditions as the Agency thinks appropriate. Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, a permit under this section shall include a condition that the person to whom it is granted shall indemnify the Agency against all reasonable costs incurred by him arising out of a breach of a condition of the said permit.

(4) The Agency may, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment and such other Minister of the Government as the Agency considers appropriate, revoke or amend a permit under this section, whenever the Agency deems it appropriate.]

F21[(5)  (a) An application for a permit under this section or for amendment of any such permit shall be subject to such fee payable in such manner, F17[as the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government may], with the consent of the Minister for Finance, prescribe by regulations.

(b) Regulations under this subsection may provide for fees of different amounts in respect of applications of different categories and in different circumstances.

F22[(c) Where under regulations made under this subsection a fee is payable in respect of any application, the application shall not be considered or decided unless the Agency is in receipt of the fee or the appropriate part thereof, as the case may be.]

(d) Every regulation made under this subsection shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.]

(6) The F17[Agency] may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, in a case where the F17[Agency] proposes to grant a permit to a person under this section, charge the person (in addition to any fee paid by the person under subsection (5) of this section) a fee of such amount as, in the opinion of the F17[Agency], is appropriate having regard to the cost of any monitoring, surveys and examinations carried out or to be carried out for the purposes of enabling the F17[Agency]—

(a) to determine where dumping may take place,

(b) to assess the effects of the dumping to which the permit relates on the marine environment and the living resources which it supports, and

(c) to ensure that the dumping to which the permit relates is carried out in accordance with that permit.

(7) A person who, in relation to an application for a permit under this section, makes a statement F17[to the Agency] that is false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence unless it is shown that the person concerned did not, and could not reasonably have been expected to, know that the statement was false or misleading in a material respect.

F23[(7A) In this section references to an application for a permit include references to an application for an amendment of a permit.]

(8) (a) Permits may, subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, be granted, revoked or amended by a person authorised for that purpose by the F17[Agency] and references to the F17[Agency] in subsections (1) to (7) of this section shall be construed as including references to such person.

(b) Where a person is authorised in accordance with paragraph (a) of this subsection to grant, revoke or amend a permit the person shall, in the discharge of such functions, have regard to such considerations of the policy as the F17[Agency] may direct.

(9) (a) F17[The Agency shall keep a register] and shall cause to be entered in the register particulars of all permits granted under this section.

(b) The register kept under this section shall be open to inspection by the public free of charge at all reasonable times. F24[The F17[Agency] shall cause the register to be published by electronic means.]

(c) The F17[Agency] shall, as soon as may be after the end of each year, cause to be published in Iris Oifigiúil, particulars of all permits granted under this section, in that year.

(10) A permit granted under the Dumping at Sea Act, 1981, and in force immediately before the commencement of this section shall continue in force as if granted under this Act.

(11) F25[…]

(12) This section shall not come into operation as respects offshore installations until such day as the Government may by order appoint.

(13) Whenever an order is proposed to be made under this section a draft of the order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.