Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 March 2021
82. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if consideration will be given to establishing a national anti-illegal dumping campaign; if he is satisfied that current measures to prevent dumping are sufficient; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11657/21]
View answerThe Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy contains a range of actions designed to enhance waste enforcement, protect human health and the environment, provide a strong deterrent effect and bring about long term behavioural change. These include: - an enhanced role for the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs),
- the development of an anti-dumping toolkit for use by local authorities,
- the development of an illegal and unauthorised sites action plan to assist local authorities,
- greater use of fixed penalty notices,
- data-proofing of waste legislation to facilitate the use of available and emerging technologies in a manner which is GDPR-compliant; and
- a new national communications and education programme, building on the work of the Waste Communications Strategy Group and the Waste Advisory Group.
I launched the national anti-dumping awareness communications campaign, "Your County, Your Waste" in November 2020, as part of the 2020 Anti-Dumping Initiative. It includes a tailored suite of information and awareness messaging for use by local authorities and community and voluntary groups.
Over €3 million was allocated to local authorities in 2020 under the national Anti-Dumping Initiative and, while allocations for 2021 have yet to be finalised, my Department will continue to provide funding to local authorities under the Initiative to enable them to work in partnership with community organisations in identifying problem areas, developing appropriate prevention and enforcement responses and carrying out appropriate clean-up operations.
