Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State talked about the length of time it has taken to get to this point. The response the Minister has provided to the Minister of State makes it very clear that this is the responsibility of local authorities and that legislation now gives them the power to take action in this space. I would encourage local authorities to act on this basis. Some are telling me that they are going to through a particular process, waiting for trials and so on. While they have to put in place all of the necessary safeguards, I would ask the Minister to consider writing to each local authority to stress the urgency of addressing this challenge. If there is a need for additional resources to be provided to local authorities to address this issue, I ask that such resources be provided. It is not acceptable that we continue to see the scourge of illegal dumping. The Department needs to strongly support local authorities in using whatever technology is available to tackle this problem.