Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy knows, a criminal investigation is taking place on waste and on the monitoring of refuse in the Blessington area of west Wicklow. The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has informed me the quickest way to achieve a clean up and get action in this area is to use section 55 of the Waste Management Act. That requires those responsible under the Act to clean the site and to fully comply with the Waste Management Act. It is far quicker than trying to get planning permission and trying to use that process. The Minister is quite satisfied that the way to get prompt action is to use section 55 which has all the powers necessary to clean up and manage these sites. That does not take away from the overall monitoring and investigation in the area.

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