John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

This is an important matter and, when I raised it previously, I also hoped my constituency colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, would be present. He witnessed the burning of waste at the opening of a playground at Whelan O'Rahallaigh House during which an industrial operation took place on Hanover Quay. PVC was burned with the intention of selling the copper wire which remained following the fire.

According to a Government agency, Race Against Waste, this is a serious issue because almost 73% of dioxins emitted to air in Ireland come from uncontrolled, low temperature burning of waste, which makes the back yard burning of waste the greatest source of dioxins released into the environment. The amount of toxins released as a result of such fires depends on the composition of the waste being burned. PVC is the worst product to burn. One might feel it was alarmist if an environmentalist made these claims but they are being made by a State agency.

According to Race Against Waste, the emissions contain dioxins; sulphurins, some of which are carcinogenic; volatile organic compounds which can aggravate respiratory and heart illness and lead to kidney and liver damage; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs, which are carcinogens; carbon monoxide; hexachlorobenzine, which has similar properties to dioxins as it is persistent and builds up in humans and the environment and at certain levels of exposure may cause serious health problems such as cancer, kidney and liver damage; nitrogen oxides; microscopic particles; and ash, which may contain mercury, lead and arsenic.

Following these fires, black plumes of smoke pass over Ringsend and flats in the area have been vacated as a result. The people setting the fires are operating with impunity. I have contacted Dublin City Council, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Garda. Gardaí call to the site intermittently and the fires cease for a while. However, they have started again and there is a fire every week. It is a lucrative business but it also poses serious health and environmental problems for the area. That is why I wanted the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to be present and, while he may be aware of the problem, he is ignoring it.

If these fires continue, serious health problems will be experienced by residents in the area. If everything contained in the Race Against Waste document is true, it amounts to criminal negligence on the part of the authorities. They are allowing people to be poisoned and they are allowing this pollution to continue.

I must ask what is the motivation. Apparently it is that if we had incinerators they would solve the problem. In a sense it is a type of blackmail — if we get the incinerator, this will stop. However, what the document does not point out is that in countries that have incinerators, the highest amount of dioxins come from municipal incinerators. However, in places such as Denmark they have a different approach and will not permit this sort of backyard burning. It is unheard of there that anyone would behave in such an irresponsible way and it is stopped.

In this country, however, it is allowed, and I believe it will increase, as does the Government agency. We expect it will increase from 93 grammes of dioxins produced in 2000 to 110 grammes in 2010. Here people burn for commercial interests and because they do not want to pay their waste charges. We must deal with this. The Government must come down hard on this activity because it causes significant health problems. I urge the Minister to do something about this issue, which affects my constituents. It also affects me because I live in the area with my family. The situation is intolerable.

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