The policy direction which I have recently issued under section 60 of the Waste Management Act 1996 directs the local authorities to ensure that the requirements of section 22 of that Act are fully met in the current review of their waste management plans.
Section 22 states that a waste management plan shall include information on: the identification of sites at which waste disposal or recovery activities have been carried on; the assessment of any risk of environmental pollution arising as a result of such activities; measures proposed to be taken or, where such an assessment has already been made, measures taken, to prevent or limit any such environmental pollution; and the identification of necessary remedial measures in respect of such sites and measures proposed to be taken or, where such measures have already been identified, measures taken, to achieve such remediation, having regard to the cost effectiveness of available remediation techniques. This exercise will be completed as part of the process of replacing the current waste management plans over the coming months.
As regards remediation costs related to illegal dumping, the regulatory authorities have been directed to pursue illegal holders of waste, looking to the maximum potential sanctions available in law. In that regard, prosecutions should be taken in all cases using the powers available under the Waste Management Act, as amended, or other relevant legislation to maximise the deterrent factor. The Garda Síochána should be asked to become involved in regard to more serious offences and the prosecution of offences should be at the highest available judicial level.
In addition, a landfill levy shall be applied in all circumstances of disposal of waste by means of an unauthorised landfill activity after 1 June 2002, when the landfill levy regulations came into effect, and local authorities should, where practicable, pursue civil remedies against illegal operators under the provisions of sections 55 to 58 of the Act, for example, to seek to recover the costs of measures taken to prevent or limit environmental pollution caused by the waste.
Clearly there may also be cost implications related to the remediation of older sites, which may not be amenable to recovery in the courts from those concerned. There may also be cost implications for closed sites which are or were in the ownership of local authorities. Pending the outcome of the section 22 process it is not possible to quantify the extent of future costs in this regard.