asked the Minister for the Environment the measures he intends to take to keep a register on the amount of toxic waste to be disposed of and to ensure that all this waste is properly accounted for and disposed of in a safe manner.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Toxic Waste Disposal.
7.
In accordance with the European Communities (Toxic and Dangerous Waste) Regulations, 1982, all aspects of the management of toxic waste disposal are a matter for the local authority in whose area the wastes arise. The regulations require persons producing, holding or disposing of such wastes to maintain a register of such operations. It is the responsibility of the local authorities to enforce this provision.
Has the Minister made any inquiries as to whether that regulation is being complied with? Has the Minister caught sight of any of those registers? Are those registers being kept at all, or well? Is the Minister in broad terms aware of the view of many people, a view expressed in some of the literature on this subject, that there is a substantial amount of illegal, unsupervised, unmonitored and unrecorded dumping of toxic waste all over the country?
I have not had sight of that but registers and related records must be available for inspection by authorised officers of local authorities. The records of waste deposits must be sent to the local authority for retention either when a permit expires or is surrendered.
Is the Minister satisfied that his Department, or the appropriate officials, have carried out their duties to the full in this respect and that the records are being kept? Will the Minister comment on the suggestion that there is a significant amount of illegal and unmonitored dumping of toxic waste into rivers, streams and any near boghole people can find?
I have no reason to suspect that the registers are not being properly kept but, if the Deputy thinks toxic waste is being discharged illegally into rivers or tipheads, he should give me the relevant information and I will have the matter investigated.
There is a lot of literature on this matter. There are many references I could give to the Minister, if he wishes.
I accept the references but I understand the matter is being attended to in a proper manner. I agree that this matter is of great importance to us all.
Will the Minister be good enough to check up on the position with regard to the keeping of registers which is a matter of arbitrary and occasional supervision. I do not believe they are being kept properly.
I would prefer if Deputies would rise in their place when putting questions.
My apologies to the Chair.
If the Deputy suggests to me that I should look more closely at some matter I would be only too happy to oblige him.
I should like to ask the Minister to investigate the matter.
I will be pleased to do so and if the Deputy tables a question to me later I will give him any information I receive.
In view of the fact that it has been established that a sizeable proportion of the toxic waste produced here goes missing, or is unaccounted for, will the Minister agree that there is a need for policing the system of waste disposal other than by local authorities? Will the Minister accept that his Department must take over the responsibility and play a central role in this? Will the Minister say if the EC regulations have been passed into domestic law by legislation or regulation? Are there any means of enforcing EC Directives?
The answer to the second question is in the positive and the information in the first question is not accurate. It is the subject matter of a question tabled by the Deputy's colleague, Deputy Sherlock. I will be dealing with the question of people not being aware of where waste is being disposed. That information is not accurate. I will be giving the detail of that matter in the reply to Deputy Sherlock.