Mr. Matthew Collins:

As for the role of the Minister under the legislation, the legislation is set by the Oireachtas and that is what the Minister operates under. The Minister does not have a role in stating what are the EPA's functions and the local authority's functions. From an environmental perspective, the establishment of the EPA as an independent agency was a foundation stone of environmental protection in Ireland. It is probably one of the strengths of the system that the EPA is an independent agency that is able to go about assessing, issuing and enforcing the licence requirements under European legislation. I am not sure but it might be a requirement of the European legislation to have this independence.

The roles of the local authority system and of the Minister are established under legislation. The executive functions are set by the Oireachtas in the Waste Management Act and that provides for the statutory responsibility of the local authorities to carry out certain functions. The Minister's role under the legislation is to provide the policy framework and to bring forward legislative proposals. It derives from the Oireachtas as the Parliament itself established that framework for decision making and enforcement.