Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 July 2017
633. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the detail of the allocation of the €9 million provided for enforcement against illegal dumping by county, in tabular form. [32631/17]
View answerThe quality of Ireland's environment is essential to the health and well-being of every citizen while industries such as tourism, agriculture and the food and drink sector depend on good quality air, land and water for the quality of their products and services. It makes absolute sense that we protect those resources through effective, proportionate and consistent systems of compliance and regulatory enforcement. Effective enforcement of waste legislation is vital for the credibility of our systems of waste management.
My role, as Minister, is to provide the legislative and policy framework under which both local authority and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement action against illegal waste activity is initiated. Notwithstanding this fact, I have made €9.9 million available from the Environment Fund this year to support:
- The recruitment and continued employment of a network of local authority waste enforcement officers under the Local Authority Enforcement Measures Scheme (€7.4 million);
- The work of the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) (€1 million);
- An anti-dumping initiative to support local authorities in targeting high risk or problem areas, developing appropriate enforcement responses and carrying out clean-up operations (€1.3 million);
- Individual Local Authority waste enforcement actions against suspected large scale illegal waste operators (€200,000).
This investment is critical in tackling issues such as illegal dumping in local communities and in providing an enhanced response on the ground to other infractions of the waste code. In that regard, my Department has continued to fund waste enforcement staff under the Local Authority Enforcement Measures Scheme and details of the grant allocated to each Local Authority under this scheme is detailed in the following table.
|
Local Authority |
Allocation € |
|
Local Authority Enforcement Measures Scheme |
|
|
Carlow County Council |
165,000 |
|
Cavan County Council |
278,000 |
|
Clare County Council |
403,000 |
|
Cork City Council |
180,700 |
|
Cork County Council |
455,000 |
|
Dublin City Council |
982,000 |
|
Donegal County Council |
202,000 |
|
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council |
480,000 |
|
Fingal County Council |
220,000 |
|
Galway County Council |
72,000 |
|
Galway City Council |
50,000 |
|
Kerry County Council |
68,000 |
|
Kildare County Council |
121,000 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
153,000 |
|
Laois County Council |
164,000 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
74,000 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
377,000 |
|
Longford County Council |
200,000 |
|
Louth County Council |
130,000 |
|
Mayo County Council |
156,000 |
|
Meath County Council |
259,000 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
219,000 |
|
Offaly County Council |
295,000 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
136,373 |
|
Sligo County Council |
176,000 |
|
South Dublin County Council |
130,000 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
211,000 |
|
Waterford County Council |
303,000 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
175,000 |
|
Wexford County Council |
236,885 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
360,000 |
|
Total Enforcement Grant: |
7,431,958 |
In addition to this scheme, my Department provides funding of €1 million to support the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) which were established in 2015 on foot of a review of the respective regulatory and enforcement roles of the EPA and local authorities. The review recommended the establishment of three regional lead authorities to drive improved performance, increased coordination and greater consistency in waste enforcement. Cork County Council, Dublin City Council and Leitrim & Donegal County Councils (in a combined bid) were selected as the new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities for the Southern, Eastern and Midlands, and Connacht /Ulster Regions respectively.
In recognition of the impact of illegal dumping on communities across the country, in March of this year, I launched the 2017 Anti-Dumping Initiative. The aim of this initiative is to provide funding for projects tackling illegal dumping including the provision of support for the clean-up, monitoring and surveillance of dumping blackspots. Funding is contingent on enforcement actions being taken by local authorities with respect to each site identified and on foot of the very positive response to this initiative the scheme has been extended with total funding of €1.3 million now being allocated.
Further funds have also been made available to assist local authorities in pursuing specific large scale and significant waste enforcement actions. This has resulted in the detection and cessation of significant illegal waste activity with important prosecutions being taken through the Courts. Approximately €200,000 has been allocated to support local authorities in this regard to date in 2017 and the provision of further financial assistance will continue to be considered on a case by case basis as the need arises.
