John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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Last Friday evening an email was circulated by the chief executive officer of Wicklow County Council to county councillors and the five Deputies for County Wicklow informing them of a decision that had already been made and signed off on. It will mean that the waste intake at the Ballynagran landfill site in County Wicklow will be increased to 190,000 tonnes. That represents an additional 40,000 tonnes above the maximum allowed under the planning conditions set out in the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, waste licence. The EPA has agreed to this change and I am sure the Minister signed off on it also. The EPA has granted technical amendments to the licence for the Ballynagran landfill site. This has come about because the landfill site at Drehid, County Kildare has exceeded its annual EPA licence capacity. Clearly, this emergency was seen coming, but there was a failure to put in place any plan to deal with it. County Wicklow will now become the dumping ground of the State because of this failure. Was the Minister aware of the emergency arising in County Kildare? If so, when exactly was he made aware of it? Who contacted him and when was he first contacted?

We know that the Ballynagran landfill site is already rated by the EPA as the worst dump in the State. Is the Minister aware of this fact? In 2013 the EPA received over 140 official complaints about the Ballynagran landfill site, the highest number of complaints associated with any landfill site in the State at that stage. In total, there were 500. This year a substantial number of official complaints have been lodged with the EPA. A community liaison committee was established under a planning condition such was the concern and opposition to the dump when it was first planned a number of years ago. That committee was not consulted during the decision-making process. In fact, there was no consultation whatsoever with the community or elected representatives. This decision has been railroaded through with no consultation whatsoever. Is the Minister aware of the ongoing concerns surrounding the Ballynagran landfill site and the additional intake of 40,000 tonnes?

I drove to the site yesterday evening and noted in driving by that the smell was totally unbearable. At this time of the year, winter, one can imagine what it is like for locals living there 365 days a year. Is the Minister aware that a family have been forced out of their own home because of the odours? They were forced out of their home last December and have been unable to return to it for nearly a full year. Is the Minister aware of the potential legal cases and the legal cases that have been filed against the Ballynagran landfill site? Owing to the sheer lack of planning and absolute incompetence, emergency legislation was rammed through over the heads of the community, in the process ignoring their legitimate concerns. That was totally wrong and avoidable.

In its correspondence Wicklow County Council seems to be reliant on the view that the Poolbeg site will potentially open at some point next year. However, this gives little or no comfort to the locals living in the vicinity of the Ballynagran landfill site. These are serious questions and I urge the Minister to answer them for the people of County Wicklow, particularly those who must live in Ballynagran daily, even without the additional 40,000 tonnes of waste that will be taken into the landfill site.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue with me.

Waste management planning is the responsibility of local authorities under Part II of the Waste Management Act 1996. I am precluded under section 60(3) of that Act from the exercise of any power or control in the performance by a local authority in particular circumstances of a statutory function vested in it under the Act. To answer the Deputy's question, I did not sign off on anything.

The big issue is that of waste capacity inationally. Waste capacity developments, including any potential pinch point and the coming on stream of additional capacity, are kept under constant review by the three regional waste management planning offices in consultation with the industry, waste regulatory bodies and my Department. On 11 November 2016 the three waste management planning offices circulated a communication to all local authorities advising of a serious and urgent problem with regard to waste operators' lack of access to outlets for the disposal of residual and related waste in the period up to 31 December 2016. The shortfall in the availability of municipal residual waste disposal and treatment capacity is due to a number of issues, including the recent closure to all third parties of the largest landfill site in the country, at Drehid, County Kildare. The shortfall in capacity at the end of this year can be attributed to a very significant reduction in the amount of waste exported in 2016 compared to previous years. In the course of the last week there have been extensive discussions between the various regulatory authorities in seeking solutions to address the difficulties. Such discussions have included the Environment Protection Agency, the County and City Management Association, the regional waste management planning offices and the local authorities.

To prevent or limit potential environmental pollution, Meath and Wicklow County councils have activated the available landfill site capacity at Knockharley and Ballynagran under section 56 of the Waste Management Act 1996. Dublin City Council, as lead authority for the eastern and midlands regional waste management planning office, has also invoked this legislative provision which gives a local authority broad powers to take measures in order to prevent or limit environmental pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency, on foot of applications received, granted technical amendments to the licences for both facilities which provide for the additional intake of waste between now and year end. These actions were necessitated by a serious and urgent scenario that was unfolding. It was, however, a temporary measure, as other waste facilities will become available at the start of January and later in 2017.

My primary concern was to avoid circumstances where waste went uncollected, given the associated public health and environmental risks. Throughout this process I have been kept fully apprised of the discussions and decisions of the relevant regulatory authorities.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for reading that, but it did not answer even one of my questions. There are legitimate concerns. I outlined the number of official complaints made to the EPA. The Minister stated he did not sign off on this, but I asked him whether he was aware of the pending emergency. Will he consider the matter? The volume of concerns facing the people of County Wicklow is significant. Will the Minister intervene? A family have been forced out of their home and unable to return for more than a year. There are pending legal cases because of the difficulties at Ballynagran. There was a fire at the site in 2015. In correspondence, the CEO stated it was understood that the Drehid landfill site would be in a position to resume accepting waste from 1 January. However, there is no guarantee that the landfill site will be available come 1 January. Some 190,000 tonnes of waste are going into the landfill site.

There are major concerns. I asked the Minister a specific question, namely, whether he had been made aware of the pending emergency. Will he intervene? It is not good enough that County Wicklow is expected to deal with an emergency that has been flagged for months. This e-mail was sent out at 4.30 p.m., 4.45 p.m. or whatever time on a Friday and no public representatives were consulted, least of all the liaison committee that was put in place as part of the planning process. This issue has been foisted on an entire county. What has the Minister done? Is he abdicating his responsibility? If not, he should intervene personally. County Wicklow cannot become a dumping ground because of the State's failure to deal with this so-called emergency. That would be unacceptable.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The main part of Ireland's problem is that we have insufficient landfill sites to meet our needs. The Poolbeg incinerator that will come on stream next year will help to alleviate that problem. We must also encourage people to reduce the amount of waste that they produce and segregate waste-----

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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Deal with this issue, please.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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-----in order that less waste will go into landfill sites.

There has been a series of crises with landfill site capacity during my term as Minister as well as during the terms of Deputies Simon Coveney and Alan Kelly. We have been working on the relevant issues with the three waste management planning offices in order to address the crises as they have arisen. That is part of the problem.

Concerning the Deputy's question, the Drehid landfill site will open on 1 January and will take waste from that time. There is no issue in that regard. It will have a licensed capacity of 360,000 tonnes in 2017. A landfill site in New Inn in County Galway that had gone into receivership-----

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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What about the concerns of the-----

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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-----will become fully operational next year and the Poolbeg incinerator will come on stream next year.

John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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What about the immediate problem? There was no consultation.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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There is an ongoing problem in trying to manage a difficult issue. Legally, I cannot intervene. I am precluded from doing so under the law. However, I have taken note of the Deputy's points and will follow up on them.