Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Smith for bringing forward this Bill and affording the House an opportunity to discuss these matters. At the outset, I want to acknowledge the Deputy's keen interest in this matter. I am aware that Deputy Smith, in bringing forward this Bill, is representing concerns expressed by many voices across a number of sectors and I acknowledge the genuine good intent with which Deputy Smith has proposed this legislation.

The scale of the diesel laundering waste problem in the Border area and the criminality which underpins it, which endangers both human health and the environment and poses a particular threat to our watercourses, is a cause of major concern to the people of these counties, their public representatives and the Government. While, unfortunately, we are not in a position to accept this Bill, I can assure Deputy Smith that his proposals are being fully taken into account in the comprehensive approach which the Government is taking in this area.

By way of background, enforcement relating to illegal diesel laundering activities is primarily a matter for the Revenue Commissioners from the point of view of avoiding loss of revenue to the Exchequer.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government assists local authorities in carrying out their role as competent authorities under waste legislation, which is to take the necessary measures on behalf of the State to ensure that any waste generated and left abandoned by the diesel launderers is disposed of without endangering human health. The illegal depositing of waste material arising from diesel laundering activities presents the local authorities with major difficulties as the task of cleaning up the material needs to be dealt with to avoid threats to the environment, as the Deputy has said.

The laundering process requires the use of chemicals such as sulphuric acid and bleaching agents and results in a waste by-product, a tar-like chemical compound or sludge with the potential for environmental pollution, particularly to watercourses. Approximately 2,000 incidents of diesel laundering waste dumping have been dealt with by local authorities to date and my Department has reimbursed the costs of approximately €7 million since 2008 associated with such disposal. The overwhelming majority of the clean-up operations have taken place in the Border counties of Louth and Monaghan.

I want to take this opportunity to outline to the House the measures taken to date. Given the links between illegal diesel laundering and organised criminality, the Revenue Commissioners are fully supported in this area by An Garda Síochána. Searches are regularly undertaken by members of An Garda Síochána, at the behest of the Revenue Customs Service as part of intelligence-led operations led by customs, which have resulted in a number of significant seizures of diesel and the closing of diesel laundering plants, particularly in Border areas.

Addressing organised crime remains a key ongoing priority for An Garda Síochána and this priority is clearly reflected in the policing plan for 2015. An Garda Síochána continues to tackle vigorously organised crime through a range of targeted activities. This involves targeting serious criminals and organised criminal groups on a number of fronts and across all geographical locations, including through the use of focused intelligence-led operations by specialist units such as the organised crime unit, the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the work of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Fuel laundering continues to be a serious concern for authorities in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Recognising this shared concern, a cross-Border fuel fraud enforcement group comprising representatives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, HM Revenue and Customs, the UK National Crime Agency, the Revenue Commissioners, An Garda Síochána and the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau has been established to target these activities on an all-island basis. Arising from the work of this task force, a number of groups involved in the laundering and distribution of illegal fuels operating in both jurisdictions have been identified and are being specifically targeted for investigation by all law enforcement agencies concerned.

In addition, and in a concerted and enhanced effort to tackle cross-jurisdictional organised crime, a joint agency task force will be established under the Stormont Agreement and implementation plan, A Fresh Start. The task force will include a strategic oversight group that will identify strategic priorities for combating cross-jurisdictional organised crime. The oversight group will provide a report on the work of the task force to the six-monthly ministerial meetings under the intergovernmental agreement on co-operation on criminal justice matters. The task force will also include an operations co-ordination group comprising senior operational management personnel from the relevant law enforcement agencies, which will co-ordinate joint operations and direct relevant resources in that context. This will complement structural reforms of the delivery of waste enforcement functions in Ireland that are in the process of being rolled out.

Following a review of the system of waste enforcement in Ireland, Cork County Council, Dublin City Council, and Leitrim and Donegal County Councils, jointly, were recently announced as the new waste enforcement regional lead authorities, WERLAs. Their work will be overseen by a national steering committee which will determine national waste enforcement priorities. The committee is being drawn from representatives from a range of enforcement and regulatory authorities in order to provide strategic support to the WERLAs to deal with serious criminal offenders such as those involved in cross-Border issues or major illegal dumping in the State; strategic national waste enforcement issues; intelligence-led and co-ordinated multi-agency enforcement; and securing targeted, timely and effective enforcement outcomes. The national steering committee will co-ordinate and support the work of the lead authorities, while providing a focus on organised criminal activity in the waste area.

National waste policy recognises that there is a need for a more co-ordinated strategic response to this growing threat. The establishment of the WERLAs working with a national waste enforcement steering committee will enhance the capacity of local authorities to organise strategic operations involving targets associated with waste crime and will facilitate more co-ordinated inter-agency operations taking place on a regional basis.

I now want to address the Bill put forward by Deputy Smith, which has proposed the establishment of a fuel smuggling forum to investigate and report on fuel smuggling and other criminal activities in Border counties. While the title of the Bill refers to the protection of the environment, its provisions fall well outside the framework of environmental legislation and straddle the regulatory remits of a number of other Departments and agencies. Moreover, the Bill does not take account of the many actions to tackle fuel laundering which have already been taken and which are ongoing, as I have previously outlined, such as the establishment of a cross-Border fuel fraud enforcement group, the national waste enforcement group and, in particular, the measures announced since Deputy Smith's Bill was published to tackle paramilitarism, criminality and organised crime contained in the Stormont agreement and implementation plan,A Fresh Start.

Under this agreement, established between the Irish and British Governments and the Executive in Northern Ireland on 17 November 2015, a joint inter-agency task force will be set up to build on and enhance current North-South inter-agency co-operation in tackling cross-Border organised crime. The task force will be led by the police and revenue authorities North and South. It will engage other relevant law enforcement agencies in establishing strategic priorities and in co-ordinating operations to target cross-jurisdictional organised crime while respecting the statutory powers and responsibilities of each agency with respect to its functions and resources. The task force will provide a report on its activities through the framework of the intergovernmental agreement on co-operation on criminal justice matters, while the statutory reporting functions of the agencies involved will be unaffected.

This new structure will also provide an opportunity to engage the particular functions and expertise of the Environmental Protection Agency or the local authorities in relevant circumstances where investigations involving environmental crime are in question. The approach adopted in the Stormont agreement will achieve outcomes sought in Deputy Smith's Bill by enhancing inter-agency co­ordination without impinging on the powers properly accorded to and exercised by the law enforcement agencies involved.

I agree with Deputy Smith that a complete solution to this problem must necessarily involve effective and co-ordinated enforcement of the law from Revenue, waste management and criminal justice perspectives. It is my view that this multi-agency approach whereby all of the agencies, working within their particular remit, bring their particular skills, expertise and powers to the task at hand represents the best approach to tackling such irresponsible and dangerous environmental crime. It is my genuine desire to be in a position to accept Private Members' Bills that are introduced in this House. However, for the reasons that have been outlined and in particular the North-South developments since its publication, I hope the Deputy will appreciate why this Bill cannot be supported at this time.

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