I propose to take Questions Nos. 704 to 706, inclusive, together.
Article 5 of the Waste Management (Permit) Regulations, 1998 provides that a local authority may, on application being made to it in that behalf, grant a waste permit, or refuse to grant such a permit, in relation to the carrying on by the applicant of a specified activity at a facility. Where an applicant for a waste permit is a body corporate which is subsequently struck off the companies register, it is not evident that there is a basis for the grant or continuation of a permit in the name of that applicant.
The European Commission has registered a complaint concerning alleged waste activities in Newtown Darver/Readypenny, Dundalk, County Louth, and has requested information in relation to issues arising. My Department co-operates fully with the Commission in relation to any such complaints and is currently preparing a reply in this case. The circumstances in which the company referred to was approved for grant assistance under the Operational Programme for Environmental Services, 1994-1999, and subsequently received grant payments, have already been investigated by my Department. The position was fully outlined in documentation provided to the Deputy on 22 March 2002.