Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his impassioned plea on this issue. It is a matter that exercises us all. In terms of champions, it is our collective responsibility here to lead. Tomorrow, I will be notifying the public of the ending of the hedgerow cutting season and of burning from 1 March. There are fires ablaze throughout the country at the moment. The Deputy rightly mentioned the impact on nature and water, including water quality. The nature of what is being dumped these days is shocking, including toxic materials. We have a real problem on our hands and it is impacting on our image abroad but, more important, on our collective well-being and sense of collective responsibility.

In accordance with the provisions of the Waste Management Act 1996, each local authority is responsible for the supervision and enforcement of the relevant provisions of that Act and of the Litter Pollution Act and the recovery and disposal of waste within its functional area. It is necessary to advise the House that under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, is precluded from exercising any power or control in respect of the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it. Under the legislation, individual local authorities are responsible for dealing with cases involving the illegal disposal of waste in their functional areas, and it is matter for them to take the appropriate enforcement and clean-up actions.

Although the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to illegal waste activity lies with local authorities, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications continues to provide extensive policy, financial and legislative support. For example, it provided €750,000 under the anti-litter and anti-graffiti awareness grant scheme for 2022, with a similar amount expected to be made available in 2023. Under this scheme, local authorities are responsible for selecting suitable projects and locations for funding and grant allocations. Funding is also provided annually in support of a number of important anti-litter initiatives such as the national spring clean, Picker Pals, the PURE Project and Irish Business against Litter. The Deputy mentioned Clean Coasts as well. I gave out awards to that body this year. It is involved in fantastic communities throughout the country. The recently enacted Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act advances several legislative provisions that will further enhance efforts in this area, including providing for the GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies such as CCTV for litter enforcement purposes and an increase in the level of on-the-spot fines for littering.

In addition, the Department provides significant support to the local authority sector in its efforts to tackle illegal dumping. Almost €15 million, including €2.8 million in 2022, has been provided to the sector under the anti-dumping initiative since it was first introduced in 2017 to encourage a collaborative approach between local authorities, community groups and other State agencies to tackle the problem. The Department also continues to invest heavily in the local authority waste enforcement network through the local authority waste enforcement measures grant scheme, with the intention of maintaining a visible presence of waste enforcement personnel on the ground in the State. A total of €7.7 million was provided to local authorities under the scheme in 2022, while a further €1 million was provided to support the ongoing enhancement of the three waste enforcement regional lead authorities.

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