Mr. Mark Griffin:

I will be guided by Deputy Connolly herself in this regard.

When one focuses on 2016, one gets one part of the picture. When one broadens it out, one gets a different perspective. I will be guided by the Deputy in terms of the amount of information she wants.

There was an underspend of approximately 41% in 2016 in the context of the amount we had expected to expend. When one looks at the nature of the beast with which one is dealing - Deputy Catherine Murphy will be very familiar with this regarding Kerdiffstown - one realises that these are very complex projects. They require statutory consent before proceeding. They must meet the relevant procurement rules. They may also involve complex legal cases and that is the case in terms of a number of them. There is a need for a technical assessment to be undertaken on each project that we are proposing to fund in order to ensure that we understand: the nature of the problem and the options available; that stakeholder engagement has taken place; that funding is available; and the position on the scope of works we are proposing to fund.

Looking at 2016 specifically, there were six projects that we had proposed to fund to a greater extent than actually occurred in 2016. The first was Kerdiffstown in County Kildare. The delay there arose because of time taken to prepare the planning application, the EIA and the waste licence application. Fingal Harriers in Timoole, County Meath, was the subject of ongoing legal action. Stackallan in Slane, County Meath, was the subject of ongoing negotiations between the site liquidator and Meath County Council. The progress anticipated in respect of Portlaw Cotton Mill in County Waterford was not made. The site is in private ownership and it has a complex character involving environmental, heritage and social interests. The final one that did not progress to the extent that the local authorities and ourselves expected was that relating to Shannon Vermicomposting.

One can see that there are delays. From our perspective, we want this to happen as quickly as possible in terms of the remediation action that is required because this has very significant impacts on the local communities, significant impacts on the environment and potential significant impacts on watercourses. As I said, if one takes 2016 in isolation, we would not be satisfied with the level of progress made. However, there are justifiable reasons why matters did not progress in the way we had foreseen.

The picture is probably a lot better when one looks at it in its broadest sense. If one goes back to the genesis of this, which is a European Court of Justice case in 2012 whereby the court found against Ireland in respect of systemic problems with aspects of our waste system, including the extent of legacy local authority dumps and illegal landfills in particular. A commitment given by the Government at the time to the effect that a programme of measures would be put in place. One of those measures would be to provide funding for the remediation of these landfills. Of the 58 to which that case related, I would say that in excess of 40 have now been completed. We are left with a number that have yet to be addressed, albeit some of them quite complex.

In the context of the six that we have identified, we would expect that progress will have been made during the course of this year. Money has been provided in the Vote for that and, indeed, we have provided money into 2018 to continue the programme of works.