Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 November 2014
168. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the steps taken by his Department to ensure that material dumped without permission in the River Corrib at the Old Dock on Long Walk, Galway city is removed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44406/14]
View answerMy role, as Minister, is to provide the legislative and policy framework under which both local authority and EPA enforcement action against illegal dumping is initiated. Enforcement action against illegal waste activity is a matter for the local authorities and the Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As Minister, I am specifically precluded under section 60 (3) of the Waste Management Act 1996, 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.
