Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 February 2005
515 Mr. Morgan asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the breakdown of all moneys collected from the environmental levy since its introduction, along with a detailed account of the areas to which the money has been allocated. [3413/05]
View answerEnvironmental levies on plastic bags were introduced by the Waste Management (Environmental Levy) (Plastic Bag) Regulations 2001 and on landfill by the Waste Management (Landfill Levy) Regulations 2002. Levies remitted to my Department and lodged in the environment fund up to 31 December 2004 amounted to €33.3 million in respect of plastic bags and €67.8 million in respect of landfilled waste.
Section 74(9) of the Waste Management Act 1996 (as inserted by Section 12 of the Waste Management (Amendment) Act 2001) and the Waste Management (Environment Fund) (Prescribed Payments) Regulations 2003, specify the purposes for which payments may be made from the environment fund.
Up until 31 December 2004, annual allocations from the environment fund were as follows:
|
Description |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
|
€000 |
€000 |
€000 |
|
|
Air quality |
107 |
114 |
|
|
Blue flag scheme |
87 |
90 |
|
|
Contributions to international organisations |
2,203 |
2,478 |
|
|
Environment awareness, including the race against waste campaign |
3,927 |
3,707 |
|
|
Environmental levy start up and collection costs |
1,558 |
350 |
1,000 |
|
Litter initiatives |
1,044 |
1,207 |
|
|
Local authority enforcement initiatives |
5,000 |
7,098 |
|
|
Miscellaneous — printing publishing consultancies etc. |
300 |
1,182 |
|
|
National waste prevention, market development and recycling programmes |
3,800 |
3,947 |
|
|
North-South Ministerial Council waste management, including North-South scheme for the management of waste fridges and freezers and INTERREG |
1,580 |
2,646 |
|
|
Office of Environmental Enforcement |
750 |
2,500 |
|
|
Producer responsibility Initiatives |
1,000 |
1,493 |
|
|
Research & Development — Environmental Protection Agency |
7,250 |
||
|
Reserves |
500 |
600 |
|
|
Subvention of local authority recycling operational costs |
5,000 |
7,000 |
|
|
Sustainable development |
250 |
228 |
|
|
Waste management infrastructure |
2,084 |
29,000 |
40,000 |
|
Water quality, protection & improvement & research |
73 |
76 |
Annual allocations include committed funding not drawn down in the previous year. Allocations for 2005 will be announced shortly.
