Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

People will have been shocked and horrified by the revelations on last evening's RTÉ's "Prime Time Investigates" programme of appalling levels of environmental criminality, pitiful regulatory enforcement and a governance regime which allowed the wholesale and destructive pollution of lakes, rivers, sea, land and forests. It is without question that human health has been placed at risk as a result of the environmental damage being done by this criminality. The programme makers deserve great credit for their work. They revealed a darker and more dangerous aspect of the Wild Atlantic Way. A fragmented and ineffective national waste enforcement regime was laid bare, in particular in the west. We saw issues in Clifden, Tuam, Bray and Moville, County Donegal and much more. Appalling stories were told about the illegal dumping of commercial, construction and household waste, yet the total number of enforcement staff across all local authorities is only 150. What emerged from the programme was that enforcement had to be resourced far more effectively. Funding must also be allocated for a clean-up and waste recovery where illegal dumps are discovered, as illustrated, in particular, in the case of the Bray landfill site. The particular issue of the performance of Donegal County Council's in waste enforcement and management must be investigated. I do not say that lightly. The breach of licence conditions by the operation in Killarney was staggering, yet it appears there was passive tolerance of it early in the journey of the company involved. There was dumping in a special area of conservation near the River Barrow in an extraordinarily brazen way, threatening groundwater, the environmental purity of the area and human health through the leaking of leachate and the presence of asbestos. We saw waste being moved illegally from the South to the North.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the regulatory system governing waste collection and disposal is fragmented, ineffective and poorly resourced? We have had many inquiries but the "RTÉ Investigates" programme is the tip of the iceberg. Will the Taoiseach facilitate a form of fact-finding inquiry to get a truly national picture of the story around waste collection, disposal, enforcement and the application of the regulatory regime right now in the country so that we can find out what is going on in the sector to inform future policy? Will the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, make himself available to the House this week specifically to answer questions on issues that arise from the "RTÉ Investigates" programme? The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, might accompany him as well, if it involves areas of local authority enforcement that come under his remit.

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