John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Under the Waste Management Acts the statutory responsibility for hazardous waste management planning, including such wastes generated by incineration, rests with the Environmental Protection Agency, which has recently published the National Hazardous Waste Management Plan 2008-2012. The plan sets out the scope of legislative controls in relation to hazardous waste management and contains recommendations and options for the expansion of hazardous waste treatment facilities to ensure the better management of this waste stream and so that Ireland can fulfil the requirement of the EU Waste Framework Directive that a policy of national self sufficiency in disposal installations be adopted by all member states.

The EPA has recently launched a request for a tender to explore the technical and economic aspects of developing a national difficult waste management facility, the primary element of which will be a hazardous waste landfill. A final report on this study is expected by December 2009.

My Department has no role in determining the number, scale or location of hazardous waste management facilities, which are matters for the relevant planning authorities including, as appropriate, An Bord Pleanála and the EPA, in regard to its statutory functions in respect of hazardous waste and the licensing of relevant waste facilities generally.

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