Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 2 June 2004
7 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the information available to his Department regarding the reported investigation by the EU into whether many quarries in this country are being worked illegally due to lack of planning permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16521/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2002 the European Commission wrote to my Department about two specific quarries. Ireland provided a detailed response in both cases in early 2003 and there has been no further communication from the Commission in either case. There has been no correspondence from the Commission on a wider investigation by the EU into quarrying activity in Ireland, as was recently reported in the media.
My Department recently provided the Commission with details of the new statutory provisions relating to quarries which came into effect with the commencement of section 261 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 on 28 April 2004. That section is intended to address concerns about the need for all in the quarrying industry to conform with modern environmental standards.
Section 261 introduces a once-off system of registration for all quarries. It applies equally to quarries that have been operating before the planning system came into operation in 1964 and those operations begun since. Only quarries for which planning permission was granted in the past five years are excluded.
Under the registration system, quarry operators must supply full details of their operations to the planning authority. Following registration, a planning authority can impose conditions on the operation of a pre-October 1964 quarry or may require such a quarry to apply for planning permission and submit an environmental impact statement in certain circumstances. Authorities will also be able to restate, modify or add to conditions on the operation of a quarry which has received planning permission more than five years ago. Any quarry which is obliged to comply with section 261 and fails to do so within the appropriate period will become an unauthorised development, regardless of its previous status and, as such, may be subject to enforcement proceedings by the planning authority.
The enactment of section 261 is intended to enable planning authorities to better regulate the operation of quarries in their area both by providing them with comprehensive information on such quarries and increasing their powers of control over quarrying operations as they expand. In parallel, my Department has issued comprehensive guidelines to planning authorities on quarrying and ancillary activities. They offer guidance to planning authorities on planning for the quarrying industry through the development plan and determining applications for planning permission. They also include a practical guide to the implementation of section 261. I am confident these guidelines will help ensure that quarrying in Ireland operates to the highest planning and environmental standards.
Why did it take four years to bring section 261 of the Planning and Development Act into effect? How many quarries have been registered since it came into effect on 28 April? The Minister stated the EU Commission is not conducting any investigation into quarrying in Ireland, which contradicts the newspaper reports to that effect. Is his Department conducting any investigation into the illegal operation of quarries in Ireland? Can he supply the House with an estimate of the number of quarries operating without appropriate planning permission?
Under the new registration system, as provided for in section 261, the detailed information required by relevant quarry operators was to be supplied by 27 April of next year. Therefore, we are well placed to meet the deadline. I dealt with this issue the minute I entered the Department. Quarrying is a huge business. It might surprise people that it is worth approximately €20 billion to the Irish economy per year.
We should have a balanced approach, ensure that we meet the environmental standards and give some of the industries a lead-in time to change their ways, as many did, to be able to conform to the new and much stricter regime. We must send a clear message to those who do not conform that they will be out of business; it is as simple as that. The industry will now be subjected to a quite sophisticated planning and enforcement regime. We have even approached quarries that came into being before 1964 and imposed conditions upon them, thus causing considerable angst.
This problem has arisen only recently. I am aware of the point Deputy Allen made — I did not see the programme in question but I heard about it. The behaviour in question is obviously unacceptable. We have dealt with the two cases the Commission raised. It has not come back to on them so I take it that it is satisfied. The Commission has not corresponded with us in any way about any EU investigation into quarrying in Ireland.
I do not have the answers to some of the Deputy's questions on the numbers involved, but if the figures are available I will obtain them for him. Given the timeframe for putting all the details together, I suspect they are not fully compiled by all the local authorities at this stage. We should deal with this issue.
I am surprised that information is not available to the Minister.
I do not have it here.
I am only asking for an estimate. Since the Minister was in a position to give us an estimate on the economic value of quarrying, I presume he made some inquiries into the extent of non-compliance with planning regulations before he brought section 261 into operation. I am only asking that the Minister share this estimate with the House.
I do not have the information with me but I will get it for the Deputy. If I had it I would be quite happy to make it available to him. I had available to me the estimate of the total value of quarrying to the economy last year. I presume we do not have the one the Deputy requires because we probably have not received all the figures from the local authorities. As he knows, section 261 of the Planning and Development Act came into effect on 28 April, which is only a matter of weeks ago. As soon as I have the desired information, I will be quite happy to make it available to the House.
Does the Minister agree there is considerable concern among communities, particularly on the perimeter of Dublin, over illegal quarrying? A cumbersome system applies in the making of applications for quarrying whereby the operators have to apply for a waste permit to the EPA or the local authority, depending on the tonnage. In addition, they must apply to the local authority for planning permission. Communities are unaware of how to obtain information or make a submission. Will the Minister examine ways of streamlining the system?
Does the Minister agree that many quarries, which may have been quarrying illegally, were also used for illegal dumping? We have a difficulty in Wicklow in that respect. The Minister made some glowing comments at the launch of the EPA annual report. However, does he agree the Department has not assisted local authorities in seeking to address the serious issue of illegal dumping in Wicklow and surrounding counties?
If the Minister gave an answer to Deputy Gilmore's question on the reason for the delay, I did not hear it.
By implication he blamed his predecessor.
I did not. I do not operate that way.
It was expected that section 261 would be included and I would like some more detail on the matter. What would the Minister say to local authorities that have benefited from materials coming from unauthorised quarries? Is a particularly bad example not being given when material is coming from unauthorised quarries for local authority use? What has the Minister done, said or threatened in that regard?
I do not disagree with the points being made by the Opposition spokespersons. Like them, I want the issue resolved. Rightly or wrongly, quarries have operated for many years in a largely unregulated fashion. I did not seek to blame my predecessor for the delay in introducing this. I simply said that when I found this issue, it was very complex and difficult to deal with. I was determined that section 261 would be implemented one way or another. As often happens with groups that represent sectional interests in society, some might have thought the regime was too hard and people would be put out of business. Ultimately this needed to be done and has been done. We had up to April 2005 and the section was only implemented in the past six weeks. I expect changes in this area will be quite rapid.
Deputies Timmins and Sargent are right in saying public consultations on these matters are important. We have assisted local authorities by giving good guidelines as to how to deal with the matter. Both through regulation and the law, we pointed out that it is incumbent on those operating quarries to have a good neighbourly policy and engage with the community. They must be open and explain to those living in proximity to quarries what is going on. The local authorities have an obligation in that regard.
Now that the section has been implemented, I have no doubt that new incoming councillors will make themselves familiar with these regulations and will use the guidelines to ask their officials to advise them of the arrangements for registration, local consultation, the number of quarries registered, the assessment of illegal activities or those who have sought to stay outside the system and refuse to take part. A range of issues needs to be addressed.
On Deputy Timmins's point about the County Wicklow scenario, I have made €7 million available to local authorities for enforcement this year to curb the illegal dumping of waste. I have also made substantial funds available to the Environmental Protection Agency and have established the new Office of Environmental Enforcement. We hope to see a substantial change and I hope the days of illegally burying waste are over.
I call Question No. 8.
I have a very important supplementary question.
We have spent 13 minutes on a six-minute question. It is ridiculous. I cannot take the Deputy's question and I must call Question No. 8.
I would like the Minister to consider introducing legislation to ensure that illegal acts are not rewarded by allowing illegal operations afterwards.
It is unfair on Members, whose other questions cannot be taken. I call Question No. 8.
This is a serious issue. Illegally used quarries should not be legitimised afterwards as landfills.
We will proceed to Question No. 8 and I ask the Minister to reply to that question. We cannot spend 14 minutes on a six-minute question.
I had a question on this matter.
Standing Orders state no more than six minutes and I have allowed 14 minutes on this question.
My question will only take about ten seconds.
We will proceed to Question No. 8.
Could I please ask my question?
If I were to allow the Deputy, I would have to allow other Deputies.
It will be October before I get a chance to ask questions again. I am not being awkward.
