Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Environmental Protection Agency: Financial Statements 2017

9:00 am

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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That is fine. I will leave that. The last point I had was on remediation and I found the information I sought. There are 71 historical landfill remediation sites, just in category A, and that is outside of Silvermines, Avoca and all of the other former mining sites. It really is a picture of Ireland and what we have done. We are back to compliance and regulation. It costs us much more in the end. Aughinish will be the same. It is better to do things right the first time. If we, therefore, are going to give licences to industries, we have to ensure they comply. We are now picking up the pieces. I have lost count of the money allocated for the remediation.

What role does the EPA have regarding these old sites being remediated? There are plans but it is difficult to keep up. The Department has been very good in giving the information but then there is a delay and the allocated money is not spent. What is the situation with those sites now? There is one in Galway but it is not on that category A site list. It is a former dump in Galway. There was a time when the former city manager was about to go to prison for contempt of court. In fairness to him, he inherited that situation but that is how bad the situation was regarding the site in Galway. What is the EPA's role in respect of these historical sites? Is it part of the delay?