Emmet Stagg (Kildare North, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for taking this debate. It is the first time I have seen a senior Minister handling an Adjournment matter for a considerable time.

The case I am about to outline demonstrates the need for a review of the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Kerdiffstown dump near Naas in County Kildare is a rotting, stinking disgrace and it is scandalous that a Green Party Minister has been unable to find a means of dealing with it or of enabling the EPA and other agencies to deal with it by changing the law to empower them to act effectively.

The dump has a long and troubled history. It began life as a quarry in the 1950s. In 1996, Neiphin Trading Limited began receiving waste at the site and there were constant complaints about the activity. In 2003, the EPA granted the company its first waste disposal licence for construction and demolition waste. Shortly afterwards, the company was found to be in breach of the terms of the licence. This became a pattern over the next years, with repeated reports outlining licence breaches and the operating company ignoring the warnings. The breaches covered a wide area, from the security and management of the site to the type of waste being dumped. In the meantime, buildings were constructed on the site without planning permission and a former EPA inspector joined the board of A1 Waste. Unbelievably, this situation continued until 2010 when the EPA finally collected enough evidence to secure a High Court injunction against the operating company.

Three companies are associated with the dump. Neiphin Trading Limited is in liquidation, Dean Waste Company Limited is in receivership and Jengsoph Limited is insolvent. How wonderfully convenient for the directors of these companies. They have left behind an unholy mess in my constituency beside the capital town, right on top of Johnstown village and in the townland of Kerdiffstown, where the residents have suffered long and unheard.

I pay tribute to the members of the Kerdiffstown residents association, which has fought a long, hard battle, and to the members of Clean Air Naas, who have brought their considerable muscle to the campaign. They are to be thanked for their selflessness and dedication to their communities.

Where once there was a hole in the ground, there is now a veritable mountain of rotting, stinking waste. It is one of the highest points in County Kildare. There is no protection for ground or surface water from the leachate running off the dump and it should be noted that the River Morrell, a tributary of the Liffey and a source of Dublin and Kildare's water supply, runs within 100 m of the site. The danger of serious pollution is real. The air near and downwind from the dump is stinking and there is no infrastructure to collect or dispose of the noxious gases. They are simply allowed to go straight into the atmosphere. This has caused real stress and fear for the people living in the area and some 30,000 people are affected. There is no effective security at the dump and scavengers and others have free access. A number of fires have occurred, giving rise to more fear and dread in the dump's general area. Rats and birds are teeming in the area. It is estimated that the site holds some 1.1 million tonnes of waste, which have been effectively abandoned by those who made the site a profitable, if illegal enterprise.

I call on the Green Party's Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to take effective action to secure and clean up this rotting menace. It is not acceptable for him to hide behind so-called independent quangos or court cases. He must issue a directive to the EPA to move in, secure the site and remove the dangerous waste. While this will be an expensive operation, the potential high cost of the alternative cannot be countenanced. The landfill levy fund amounts to €198 million and I call on the Minister to use part of the fund to enable the EPA to take the necessary action. It is noteworthy that the Dean group of waste companies got away with paying nothing into the fund for a ten-year period.

Through Ms Nessa Childers, I have also raised this issue with the European Commissioner and I intend to pursue that course further.

In seeking to protect the environment, the EPA is operating with one arm tied behind its back. The Minister needs to change the law so that, when a landfill licenceholder breaches the terms of that licence, the EPA is empowered to close down him or her there and then. This is not currently the case. As the EPA is dealing with rich companies and individuals, the Kerdiffstown dump has been allowed to grow and fester since the first licence breach in 2003. If the law was otherwise, the dump would have been closed down in 2003, not 2010. If this is not a case for changing the powers of the EPA, I do not know what is.

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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On foot of a commitment in the programme for Government, a review of the EPA began in February 2010. Under its terms of reference, the review group has been asked to review the legislation governing the EPA, assess performance against its mandate and evaluate the scope of that mandate, review the resources allocated to the EPA, assess the structures and governance of the agency and assess the relationship between it and other parts of the environmental governance structure. The review group members are drawn from a varied background and include environmental, legal, academic, business and agriculture experts. The group also includes former directors of the Irish EPA and its Dutch counterpart.

A public consultation process in respect of the review was held earlier this year and received more than 130 submissions. The review group, as part of its ongoing work programme, also consulted with a wide range of stakeholders, including environmental non-governmental organisations, the IFA, IBEC, Departments, other public bodies, the City and County Managers Association and the EPA. The group's work is ongoing and it is expected that it will finalise its report by the end of the year and report to me shortly thereafter. Clearly, there will be a need to consider carefully the group's recommendations, on which I do not intend to speculate or pre-empt.

The review group has adopted a thematic approach which includes an examination of the licensing framework, both in terms of the EPA's role and the legislation that governs it. Waste facilities operate under waste licences issued by the agency, with these licences being subject to stringent conditions regarding the operation of such facilities. The need for strong enforcement action has been aided by ministerial policy directions that issued in May 2005 and July 2008 providing guidance where illegal deposition is discovered. I am concerned about any facility that is causing environmental pollution, but there is adequate legislation in place for the regulatory bodies to deal with such matters.

The Government is committed to ensuring an adequate enforcement response to illegal waste activity and I would point to continuing support from the environment fund towards enforcement staffing costs. This funding of more than €7.5 million has been used to finance the activities of 120 additional local authority enforcement personnel. I also hope to provide additional funding this year of up to €1 million to cover the additional enforcement costs of local authorities.

The EPA plays a key role in monitoring, maintaining and improving Ireland's environmental performance. Accordingly, a high level of importance is attached to this review. Good environmental governance is a key priority for the Government as a whole, in particular as an essential element of sustainable development. The review is also important in the context of the Transforming Public Services agenda and the need for efficiency and effectiveness in a resource-constrained environment. The ultimate aim of the review is to strengthen the agency and I look forward to the finalisation of the review group's report.