Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
905. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will act immediately to save jobs at a company (details supplied) who are concerned with serious environmental issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37682/13]
View answerIssues concerning the enforcement of waste management legislation are a matter for the appropriate regulatory authority and should therefore be pursued with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the relevant local authority, as appropriate. The Office of Environmental Enforcement within the EPA has a mandate to deliver enhanced environmental compliance both through enforcement of agency licences issued to waste, industrial and other activities, and also through the supervisory role which it exercises in respect of the environmental protection activities of local authorities. In this regard, the Office acts as a resource to members of the public who have exhausted all other avenues of complaint. Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996 the Minister is precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by the agency or a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it. The enforcement of planning control is a matter for the relevant planning authority. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, a planning authority must issue a warning letter in relation to written complaints regarding unauthorised development, or other unauthorised development, of which it becomes aware (except in the case of trivial or minor development). There is also a statutory obligation to carry out an investigation and expeditiously decide whether an enforcement notice should be issued or a court order should be sought, under section 160 of the 2000 Act. Where a planning authority establishes, following an investigation, that unauthorised development (other than development that is of a trivial or minor nature) has been or is being carried out, and the person who has carried out the development has not proceeded to remedy the position, then the planning authority must issue an enforcement notice or seek a court order, unless there are compelling reasons for not doing so.
