Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 October 2011
42 Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the number of recommendations contained in the report of the high level group on green enterprise that are relevant to his Department; and the outstanding recommendations to be implemented. [30314/11]
View answerOf the 55 recommendations contained in the Report of the High Level Group on Green Enterprise, 17 are directly relevant to my Department. Of those, 6 actions have been fully delivered, including the lowering of thresholds for wind farm approvals under the Strategic Infrastructure Act, the implementation of the Food Waste Regulations and the transfer of responsibility for foreshore licensing to my Department.
Significant progress has been made on the other 11 recommendations under the remit of my Department. 3 of these, namely a decision on the future regulatory structure for the waste sector, coordinated regional waste management plans and further efforts to promote composting and anaerobic digestion, are also relevant to the development of a new national waste policy, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2011, and will ultimately contribute to their achievement.
The Group also recommended that efforts be made to develop additional reprocessing capacity for recovered materials, such as paper, glass and plastic. The recently published Irish Recycled Plastics Arisings Study concluded that 70% of plastic goes to landfill and 30% of recycled plastic remains in Ireland for processing. My Department is now considering how best to utilise this data to develop all-island market opportunities.
In terms of water management, the Group recommended that levels of unaccounted for water should be progressively reduced towards best practice, that volumetric treated water charges for domestic users be introduced and that a single water authority be established. In relation to these issues
water conservation measures have been prioritised within the Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012;
the Programme for Government provides for the introduction of a fair funding model to deliver clean and reliable water and my Department is currently preparing a strategy to implement this proposal; and
the Programme for Government also provides for the establishment of a new, State-owned national water authority to assume responsibility for managing and supervising investment in water services infrastructure; an independent assessment concerning the establishment of such an authority, as provided for in the Memorandum of Understanding between Ireland and the EU/IMF, is under way.
In relation to the Group's recommendation that the monitoring and enforcement of standards in relation to septic tanks be given greater priority, my Department is currently preparing draft legislation which will introduce a registration and inspection system for domestic wastewater treatment systems.
The final 2 recommendations of relevant to my Department concerned Green Public Procurement (GPP). Considerable work has been undertaken on the preparation of a GPP Action Plan and I expect to publish the Plan next month.
The latest progress report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Report of the High Level Group on Green Enterprise is available on the website of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation at http://www.djei.ie/publications/trade/2011/Progressreportongreenenterprise.pdf.
Question No. 43 answered with Question No. 37.
