Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this very serious issue which has most profound consequences for my region. I refer to proposals from Irish Cement Limited to seek planning permission at its plant in Mungret, County Limerick, to switch from burning fossil fuels to burning used tyres and other combustible materials, including domestic waste. The plant in Mungret is located in the centre of a population of roughly 20,000 people on the westerns suburbs of Limerick. It is the fastest-growing suburb of Limerick, with planning applications for thousands more houses in the area. Of course, the impact will not be just on people in the immediate area, but will be felt citywide and in the city's surrounds.

The people immediately affected by this proposal have expressed major concerns. We have had numerous meetings and a huge march is planned for Saturday. More than 2,000 letters of objection have gone to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, already. The people are worried about the potential for this changed situation to release cancer-causing dioxins into the atmosphere. The people's concern is exacerbated by the appalling track record of this company at the Mungret plant with two major blowouts in 2006 and 2013. It is further exacerbated by the fact that it is crystal clear that there are insufficient regulatory safeguards in the plan the company has submitted to Limerick and County Council.

In addition the failure of the EPA to gather any baseline data on air quality is mind-boggling and incomprehensible. Has the Department, the HSE, the EPA or any other agency undertaken a public-health risk assessment of this proposal? Incineration on the scale envisaged brings huge dangers, but there appear to be no plans in place to guard against those dangers. The EPA's State of the Environment Report 2016 stressed the critical importance of air quality to community well-being. What reassurances can the Minister give us now that the burning of 90,000 tonnes of industrial waste, including tyres, solvents and plastics, will not have an adverse effect on air quality to the detriment of the community?

With further plans for a gasification plant in Shanagolden, which is also in County Limerick, the importation of industrial waste into Foynes, which is also in County Limerick, not to mention Platin and Poolbeg, is there an undeclared strategic plan to turn Ireland into a hub for the incineration of waste from around the world?

In the course of the interaction between the various authorities and the protesters - the objectors to the proposal - very serious concerns have been expressed to me about the Environmental Protection Agency. These include concerns over the lack of resources and expertise of the Environmental Protection Agency, concerns over flawed governance and accountability, and fundamental concerns that there is an institutional bias in the Environmental Protection Agency in favour of industrial development to the detriment of monitoring and enforcement. In addition, serious concerns have been expressed at what I can only describe as the token involvement by the HSE despite major unanswered questions about the long-term public-health risk.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I apologise on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughten, who is unable to be here. He asked me to reply on his behalf.

Three regional waste management plans made by the local authority sector in May 2015 for the period from 2015 to 2021 highlighted the need for an additional 300,000 tonnes of thermal treatment capacity for residual municipal waste in the State. The plans, which are available to download at , articulate that the additional need is determined by analysing future projections and is based on a number of assumptions as set out in the plans.

In accordance with the provisions of the Waste Management Act 1996, the preparation and adoption of a waste management plan, including in respect of infrastructure provision, is the statutory responsibility of the local authority or authorities concerned, and under section 60(3) the Minister is precluded from exercising any power or control in the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it.

The role of the Minister in waste management is to provide a comprehensive legislative and policy framework through which the relevant regulatory bodies, such as local authorities and the Environmental Protection Agency, operate. Government waste policy is set out in A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland. That policy is predicated on the waste hierarchy, whereby the prevention, preparation for reuse, recycling and recovery of waste is preferred to the disposal of waste.

Thermal recovery activities, where the principal use of waste is as a fuel to generate energy, sit on the recovery tier of the waste hierarchy and have a role to play in reducing our dependence on disposing waste to landfill. The State has made huge progress in this regard. Landfill of municipal solid waste has decreased from 92% in 1995 to 41% in 2012. This also reflects the increase in recycling and recovery of municipal solid waste from 8% in 1951 to 59% in 2012, the first year that the percentage tonnage of municipal waste managed for recovery at 59% exceeded the percentage tonnage managed for disposal at 41%.

The EPA's State of the Environment Report 2016 highlights that the most significant change in residual waste treatment since 2012 has been the shift from disposal to landfill, to energy recovery. The report notes that the export of waste for energy recovery has increased significantly in recent years and, though this has moved the treatment of waste up the waste hierarchy and away from landfill, it has also left Ireland vulnerable in terms of our reliance on waste export markets and the loss of jobs and energy in the material we export.

Those concerns were highlighted by the lack of capacity to manage municipal waste adequately in 2016 which ultimately resulted in the temporary emergency use of landfill. We need to build on our recent achievements and, in line with Government policy, continue to strive to prevent and recycle waste to the greatest extent possible. The recovery of waste also has a part to play in minimising the impact on the environment and assisting in meeting targets and obligations under current and future EU legislation. We all wish to avoid a repeat of the scenario from the 1990s, whereby practically every county in the State had an operating landfill. Burying waste in the ground is not only detrimental to the environment in terms of managing the resultant leachate and greenhouse gas emissions but also detrimental to the creation of jobs and energy through the development of recycling and recovery processes.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for delivering the reply on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughten. However, it provides cold comfort to the residents of Mungret, Raheen, Balinacurra, Clarina and all those other heavily populated districts which will be immediately affected if this proposal proceeds.

I take the Minister's point that Limerick County Council is responsible for planning and we do not seek to interfere with the planning process in any way. However, the Government must have responsibility for national policy on incineration. It must also be conscious of the fact that the performance of incinerators in this country is patchy at best with consequent implications for people's health.

Is the Minister aware that Limerick city already has one of the worst levels of pulmonary disease in the country? As I will be facing the people on Saturday, will the Minister give me a guarantee there will be no adverse consequences for public health in terms of air quality, pollution or the potential for a serious accident or filter failure? Will he give me a guarantee that there will be no reputational risk to the dairy sector in the area which is vital to the local economy or to tourism, another fundamental prop of the local economy, or to the plans, to which his Government has averted, to turn Limerick into a business hub by 2030?

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the concerns the Deputy has raised. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is a professional agency set up by the Oireachtas. I know the Deputy is casting doubt on its governance and its bias. However, it is an independent agency and has a strong reputation and strong powers. It licenses and controls emissions levels. To be fair to the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, he does not have authority in the planning decision in this case and nor does he control the EPA. It would be regarded as wrong if he were to be the Minister controlling the EPA. It has an independence because it has a statutory remit to protect people, to ensure operations of this nature are run according to the licences with which they are issued and that those licences are drafted in such a way as to protect the public interest. I have no doubt that the EPA, as well as the local authority, will be sensitive to the concerns and determined to ensure the protection of people in any decisions it takes. The Minister has no power in monitoring or enforcing those responsibilities which the Oireachtas gave to the EPA to execute. It has a good track record in that respect.

I will convey to the Minister the Deputy's concerns. I understand them as similar concerns were expressed in Dublin with the establishment of a similar plant in Ringsend. We have professional organisations both assessing licences and monitoring them. Those bodies have the primary responsibility and will be alert to the concerns the Deputy and the people of Mungret are expressing to ensure they execute their responsibilities properly.