Vol. 560 No. 3
117 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the position in his discussions with the motor industry regarding the safe disposal of end of life vehicles, especially having regard to the dangers to the public from the use of old or abandoned cars by joyriders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2394/03]
My Department has been actively engaged with the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, SIMI, the Irish Motor Vehicle Recyclers Association, IMVRA, the Metal Recyclers Association of Ireland, MRAI, and other concerned parties with a view to developing a producer responsibility initiative to implement the main provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive 2000/53/EC on end-of-life vehicles, ELVs. A particular objective of the directive is to ensure that all ELVs are collected, dismantled and recovered by industry in an environmentally sound manner at no cost to the final holder. The directive further requires that a system for the issue of certificates of destruction in respect of scrapped vehicles be introduced.
These stakeholder bodies submitted an agreed initial proposal for an ELV management scheme to my Department just over a year ago. This replaced earlier proposals by SIMI alone. Consultants were since engaged by the stakeholders to assist in the development of the agreed initial proposals and agreement in principle has been reached on the operation of an appropriate ELV recovery scheme that will fulfil the main requirements of the directive. Discussions with the stakeholders in relation to operational details relating to the introduction of the proposed ELV recovery scheme are ongoing.
I am preparing appropriate legislative proposals which will be brought to Government shortly to support implementation of the detailed ELV recovery scheme consistent with the requirements of the directive. The implementation of the directive in Ireland, which provides for the free take-back of ELVs by the final holder to authorised treatment facilities, should result in a decrease in the number of ELVs being abandoned, thereby reducing their availability for anti-social purposes.
I have raised the issue of end-of-life vehicles over the past three or four years. The Minister said his Department is actively engaged with the motor industry organisations. This engagement represents the longest courtship I have heard of. I would like to know when it will be consummated. As the Minister must know, all over this country there are disused vehicles which end up burned out in the corner of public spaces. There is an epidemic of joy-riding in urban areas where these vehicles are made available. My colleague, Councillor Michael O'Connell of Cork, was on the public airwaves about this during the week. On two occasions my colleague, Deputy Broughan, introduced a Bill to deal with this problem which was voted down by the Government. We want to know when we will see these end-of-life vehicles, which are emerging from the NCT, taken off our roads?
The Deputy has exceeded his one minute.
This is a huge problem and it is not being dealt with. There is a European directive in this area which is not being implemented.
I am delighted the question has been asked and I will be direct with the Deputy. We have reached agreement, a fact I welcome given that I put a great deal of time into ensuring a positive outcome. I agree we needed it urgently.
At present, the industry is simply dealing with some operational technicalities. I want the legislation and all the enabling provisions in primary legislation in place by the autumn of this year. I want the fund to commence so that the whole operation starts in the spring of next year. That is a very short timeframe. I accept the Deputy would like us to set an earlier date but, in fairness to the representative motor organisations and everybody else concerned, we now have agreement. This matter is being comprehensively addressed. I want the end-of-life vehicles to be taken back free from the consumers. The scheme will be in place in the timeframe stipulated under the EU directive. We will meet all our requirements and I am happy to put that on the record of the House.
This problem has scarred the faces of many suburbs of cities and towns and has caused a number of deaths. I am amazed to hear the Minister state it will be next spring before he will have the system in place to deal with this. Perhaps I am naive, but surely the last registered owner of a very old vehicle can be traced and held responsible for its safe disposal. Surely that is the nucleus of the problem. Why can the last registered owner not be traced through the engine serial number and held responsible? If this does not happen, there will be more deaths and more areas will be scarred by this mainly urban problem.
I put a very short timeframe on it. I want everything in place by the autumn. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate it will take a few months for the fund to build up. I am being realistic in saying there will be sufficient funding available to start the full procedure for the free take-back of vehicles in the spring of next year.
I have been fairly explicit in response to Deputy Gilmore, and I will be so again with Deputy Allen, when I say that all of the necessary enabling and primary legislation will be in place by autumn of this year. We have agreed everything with all of the parties and they are simply working on some of the operational technical aspects. That is as quickly as I could have acted since I took office. I put time into getting it done because both I and the Government agree that the anti-social way these vehicles are being used is unacceptable. That apart, their environmental impact on urban areas and many rural areas throughout the country is appalling.
First, who exactly will be responsible for taking back the vehicles and for their ultimate disposal? Second, now that there is a deadline, which I welcome, has the Minister considered the possibility that some unscrupulous elements in the motor trade may use the interval between now and the publicly announced deadline to shed old vehicles so that between now and then we may unwittingly see an increase rather than a decrease in the problem?
The Minister may be aware that when the Department of Agriculture and Food was drawing up the de-stocking levels, one of the issues which impacted on the amount of stock to be permitted on commonages was whether there were abandoned vehicles in the area. If there were abandoned cars, as happened in Wicklow and Mayo, the stocking levels were reduced. Would the Minister agree to forward his proposals to the Minister for Agriculture and Food so that he could take this into consideration when appeals come before the newly established appeals board?
I welcome Deputy Gilmore's response to the fact that I have gone on record once again and have outlined definitive deadlines. However, I do not accept his point that this will result in a surge because there is a great deal of work being done by the Irish motor industry. I compliment the SIMI on this work. The stakeholders will be responsible for the operation of this scheme and obviously the primary stakeholder in this will be the SIMI. Based on the agreement, I am confident it will be a good scheme and that the take-back of vehicles will be free which will be an enormous incentive.
I will look at legislation to put certain responsibilities on the vehicle owners to freely give over the vehicle. It will not cost money but I want to make sure that, where they own a vehicle which is clearly at the end of its life, they take their environmental responsibilities into account as well. From what the Deputy has said regarding a deadline, which he supports, it seems I am damned if I do and damned if I do not. I want to see this implemented and believe we will achieve a good result here.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
