Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have all heard the old saying, "The nearest to the church, the farthest from God". While I might be the Teachta farthest from the sea, representing the most inland constituency in the country, as the former Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment this is an area in which I have a great interest. I have probably taken an interest in this area where many of my predecessors did not because I see the great opportunity it presents. It is important that we consider and fully explore these opportunities.

At the briefing last Monday, I raised two specific questions with the Minister's officials and indicated I would ask those questions again today. I hope I will get answers to them now. The first issue concerns not wanting to see a repeat of the sugar shambles we witnessed in the 2000s when we decommissioned our whole sugar processing industry. Those facilities could have been used to process sugar beet and produce domestic bioethanol to blend in with petrol at garage forecourts, rather than importing bioethanol from the other side of the globe. I do not want to see that happen in respect of the topic we are discussing.

This legislation allows for the partial removal of the undersea facilities that have been developed over the past 43 years. When I was the Minister with responsibility for this area, I asked my officials to do an assessment of the use of these wells off the south coast for carbon capture and storage, CSS, and the potential to use the Whitegate gas-fired power station for that purpose. I also asked about the potential to use the wells for the storage of natural gas. When the Corrib natural gas field is exhausted in ten years' time we will be dependent on two gas interconnectors that link us with the United Kingdom and bring in supplies from outside the European Union. That is our only source of natural gas. In that context, there is a potential opportunity to store that gas off our coast. Whether these wells are geologically suitable for that purpose is a question which should be answered properly today. I would like to know what the position is in that regard. I was told at the briefing on Monday that we do not have that answer yet as we are still considering the matter and we will have it at some point in the future. Yet again, Dáil Éireann is being left in a position where Members are being asked to make a decision without having all the relevant information presented to us as parliamentarians.

The second question I asked the Minister's officials on Monday was whether the requisite capacity existed in the EPA to process these applications. The answer I got was that the EPA does not deal with many applications regarding dumping at sea, and that is correct.

Those officials are involved in other work on a day-to-day basis, however, and that has to have an impact on that.

I will raise two specific issues with the Minister. On 13 January, I raised with his colleague the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, the fact that there are hospitals in this State that do not have enough bins to store the waste personal protective equipment, PPE, that is being generated. They have not the capacity to do that. We are aware, from responses I have received on the floor of this House, that one third of the Covid infections in hospitals are acquired in the hospitals. Surely if we are not properly managing the storage and maintenance of waste PPE, it poses a potential risk.

For the past three years, the EPA has been considering an industrial emissions licence application that would allow for this PPE to be treated on site in each of our hospitals across the country. We are still waiting for a decision. I asked the Minister for Health whether he would intervene in this regard and just last week I received a response to say that no, it was nothing to do with him, and that it is the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications who has to deal with that. We have large-scale Covid-19 infection in our hospitals, with a potential risk associated with the management of waste in our hospitals, and the first thing the Minister for Health does is to kick the ball onto the other pitch. It is a case of "Not my problem".

My other point is on the end of waste status for recovered waste materials. Given the number of applications currently with the EPA on this matter, and based on the rate of processing those end of waste applications, it will be 16 years before the applications currently on hand will be processed by the EPA. This is for material that is currently going into the very limited landfill facilities in Ireland. This material could be recycled into new products. It is being put into landfill because the EPA will not issue licences for the reprocessing of those particular materials, be it glass or other materials. This includes construction materials, which is an issue for the Minister's own Department. The Minister will be aware that construction material is exported from Ireland to go into landfill in other parts of Europe, some of which could be reused here in the construction and road industry. Because the EPA is sitting on those licences, however, it is not happening. We are now putting more work on top of the EPA without giving it the resources.

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