Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 3 Feb 1998

Vol. 486 No. 3

Written Answers. - Waste Disposal.

John Bruton

Question:

196 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the proposals, if any, he has to achieve savings of 3 million ecu on expenditure on hazardous waste disposal and 5 million ecu on municipal waste disposal under the announced reallocation of resources in the community support framework for Ireland from the EU; whether this saving represents a change in policy to reduce the priority given to hazardous and municipal waste disposal; if the generation of waste in these categories was less than was expected thereby facilitating the saving; the correspondence, if any, he has had with the European Commission in this regard; if he will publish this correspondence; the implications of these savings or decommitting of funds for potential beneficiaries of the expenditure; when the community support framework monitoring committee will meet to discuss this matter. [22675/97]

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment and Local Government (Mr. D. Wallace)

Financial assistance by way of grants is available for waste management purposes in two measures under the Waste Management Sub-Programme of the Operational Programme for Environmental Services. Measure 1 provides support for the provision by the private sector of facilities for the recovery or disposal of hazardous waste. Measure 2 provides support for the provision of waste recovery infrastructure by the private sector and by local authorities and for the carrying out of waste management strategy studies by public authorities including local authorities, regional authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency. An amount of 6.184 MECU was originally provided under Measure 1 and an amount of 16.812 MECU under measure

2. Both measures are co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

A decision to reduce the European Regional Development Fund funding for the Waste Management Sub-Programme by 8 MECU was taken by the Community Support Framework (CSF) Monitoring Committee at its meeting on 29 July 1997. This decision was part of an agreed package of changes arising from the mid-term review of the CSF 1994-99, announced jointly on the same date by the Minister for Finance and the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy. The total reduction of 8 MECU was applied by way of a reduction of 3 MECU in measure 1 and 5 MECU in measure 2. The decision does not represent any change in policy regarding the management of hazardous and municipal waste and will not affect applicants for whom grants have been approved.