Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The difficulty is that we have a contractual obligation which provides legal obligations on the State. We have to be extremely careful in the manner in which we deal with these issues. Otherwise, we will expose the State even further in terms of infrastructure that was contracted but not delivered. All I can do at the moment as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is outline the country's waste policy. I have done that with my colleagues in Government when we were trying to move away entirely from landfill. We are not entirely sure if we will meet our landfill obligations in 2014-15. We are in difficulty in that respect. It depends on economic growth and the type of investment we have in infrastructure in providing alternatives to landfill.

I accept what the Deputy is saying that if we do not get certainty on this project soon we will not be waiting around forever for the purpose of providing alternatives. We have to meet our objectives and the obligations laid down in our targets that are set by the EU in conjunction with Ireland. I hope that we are in a position to get some information in the very near future on whether the company involved, Covanta, and Dublin City Council are in a position to proceed. I am prepared to examine the situation carefully in the next few weeks and ascertain from the contracting parties whether they are in a position to proceed. I cannot say what the alternatives are at this stage until I see what the future holds for this particular contractual obligation that we have but I agree with Deputy Humphreys that we must have certainty sooner or later. I need to have certainty to ensure that I can move on to alternative methodologies of dealing with our waste if this particular option is closed to us.

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