Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On compliance, while our compliance rate has improved beyond measure in recent years, our system is far from perfect and it would seem that a certain minority continues to feel that flouting the law is worth the risk. Enforcement is beginning to pay dividends and several important environmental and criminal outcomes in the past year represent a roadmap to put potential illegitimate waste operators permanently out of business. I am informed by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment that several enforcement actions have been initiated and that all of the cases that were raised in "RTÉ Investigates" last night are either under investigation or constitute closed cases. As the programme highlighted, enforcement action against illegal waste operators, including unauthorised collection of waste and illegal dumping, is led by local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, under section 63 of the Waste Management Act 1996, and the Minister is precluded from exercising any power or control in the performance of an agency or local authority in particular circumstances of a statutory function vested in it.

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