Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I apologise that the notice of my Topical Issue matter may be slightly different to the content but I ask the Minister to bear with me because it is an important matter. In recent years, I have been inundated by people contacting me about illegal dumping and problems within local authorities. In County Meath, for example, the Garda and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, are dealing with the alleged dumping of 16,500 tonnes of illegal waste on farm land. The contractor at the centre of the allegation was working for, and under the supervision of, Meath County Council and its consultants at the time. I have inspected the lands personally and found materials such as carcinogenic coal tar, which is used on the bases of roads, mixed with bitumen, pipes, tyres and many other waste materials. Meath County Council carried out a tier-one investigation of the issue and stated the material was for agricultural improvement uses, although it is clear that bitumen, tar, wheels, axles, tyres and so on are not for agricultural improvement. The EPA, however, refused to accept the outcome of the investigation and as a result Meath County Council carried out a tier-two investigation of the dumping of this material. It did so at a desk, however, without inspecting the land or digging any holes there and the EPA refused to accept the outcome of that investigation too. The EPA is seeking legal advice on how to proceed with the matter and on whether it can force Meath County Council to remove the 16,500 tonnes of waste material from the land.

I cannot say for sure which body is wrong or right and I do not claim to be able to do so, but a family with acres of contaminated land has approached the council, the EPA and even the Committee of Public Accounts for help. A number of Deputies, including me, have tried to help them but the problem has gone on for years and nothing has happened. The land remains barren, while aquifers may be contaminated under it. The owner cannot even obtain insurance for the land, such is the state of it. I know that the EPA has hundreds of files on its desks that are similar to this and that they all need serious investigation. From contact with the Garda, I know it is in a similar position. Justice happens at glacial speed at best, if it happens at all.

A number of things are wrong and I want the Minister to consider this issue with regard to the future development of the sector.

I will discuss in a moment a number of other areas where this has happened. Local authorities are policing their own issues. It is alleged that they may be the transgressors and also investigating what happened. The EPA has a role but it is not powerful. It can refuse to accept the findings of the local authority but it finds it very difficult to go in, police it and force a resolution. The resources to investigate and deliver justice in this regard are nowhere near what is necessary. In the case I am speaking about, such is the pressure created by the disaster in this family's life that it has caused great illness and stress for the family members. Under the current trend of activity, it is highly likely this will not be satisfactorily fixed, at least not in the lifetime of the family who are suffering.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy indicated, his question is somewhat different from the generic question submitted. I cannot comment on an issue where there is, from what the Deputy has said, an apparent dispute between the EPA and Meath County Council. The Deputy is aware that Meath County Council is, in the first instance, responsible for enforcement. However, the EPA has significant powers and it oversees the adequacy with which local authorities perform their functions under the Acts. From what I read, it does not seem to be a very weak power, as the Deputy described it. The EPA has the power to request information and to require its advice and recommendations to be implemented. It can issue directives, which the local authorities needs to take, and it can prosecute the local authorities if they fail to take such direction. I have no reason to believe the EPA has reached any of these conclusions. I am sure, from what the Deputy has said, that it has requested the information and is scrutinising what has occurred but it has powers available to it.

On the wider issue raised by the Deputy, I fully recognise that illegal dumping is a huge issue. We have sought to improve the structures by having national and regional structures. At national level, a multi-agency approach is taken involving the Garda, enforcement officers and the EPA. These key players can help to ensure an integrated approach is taken to the issue of illegal dumping. We have provided additional resources for this as well as making a more general call on public authorities and communities to support individual initiatives that seek to improve areas scourged by illegal dumping.

I recognise there is a very serious problem. If I thought the law was weak, I would certainly look at it. Additional resources have gone into this area. I do not have the details chapter and verse but, from memory, the resources allocated to address illegal dumping have increased. We also recognise there is systematic dumping. This year, there is an initiative to see if a more multi-agency approach can be identified to ensure issues do not slip between the inspectors and those calling out dumping. This is part of what the Department, through the EPA and the national regional network, seeks to achieve.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. As I said, I am not trying to catch him on the hop. I acknowledge that I have deviated from the Topical Issue submitted, for which I apologise. I will give a couple of other examples. In County Meath, Paddy Shiels, who supplied services to Meath County Council for years, found his company and his equipment was being used to supply to Meath County Council some services without his knowledge. He claims there was a loss of millions of euro and damage to his company as a result. There was a court case and the defendant pleaded guilty. Further allegations have been made, which were not answered, and Paddy Shiels has never been compensated. I and other Deputies, including Deputy O'Dowd, have been battling on behalf of Mr. Shiels for a number of years and Frank Connolly of Village magazine has asked questions of Meath County Council. The local authority has finally decided to initiate a public inquiry.

In another example of this type of difficulty, last month, Councillor Brendan Thornhill of Aontú came into possession of sworn affidavits on alleged malpractice and corruption in the planning department of Wicklow County Council, which resulted in millions of euro in losses. It is alleged decisions were made by Wicklow County Council without the knowledge of councillors. I understand this information was brought to previous Ministers with responsibility for the environment but nothing has happened. Years have passed without the individuals in question being able to get justice. Thankfully, owing to Councillor Thornhill's activities, the Garda has decided to initiate an investigation into the allegations.

With regard to dumping and the environment, Waterford County Council has had similar allegations made against it. A significant amount of illegal infilling has been taking place in Tramore landfill, Kilmacleague, Crough Wood in Rinn and Knockboy graveyard. It is alleged that in these cases there is a conflict of interest. On the one hand, Waterford County Council is the planning authority with the statutory obligation to protect European habitat sites and enforce the applicable environmental legislation while, on the other hand, it is also a transgressor. This is the key element.

An Bord Pleanála has confirmed that in the Comeragh Mountains planning permission was required but not sought by the council. I will give an example of how this costs money. In the Comeragh Mountains, Waterford County Council paid €110,000 for a group to dig up a special area of conservation and then had to pay €250,000 to restore it. There is another site in Middle Quarter in County Waterford about which I have just received an allegation that Waterford County Council is involved in an illegal infilling of a protected European habitat. If true, it will cost millions of euro to resolve. It is the transgressor-cop issue that is at the heart of these problems.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It is important to draw distinctions. Local authorities are the regulators of illegal activity and they have a role to ensure regulatory compliance. However, being regulators does not make them liable for the damage being done by private bodies. It would be impossible to carry out regulation if, as the Deputy suggests, local authorities were to become in some way financially responsible for breaches they discover. That is not their role.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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In this case, the local authority gave planning permission.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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In addition, the Deputy has made allegations that I cannot substantiate one way or the other that local authorities themselves are involved in illegal activities. In this respect, I go back to the points I made. The EPA has a supervising regulatory role in respect of local authorities and if there are instances of this nature, the EPA has enforcement powers. These powers include not only investigating but also issuing directions and taking prosecutions in respect of local authorities. Besides the obvious civil injury that may be involved, there is a route for these allegations to be presented to the EPA and for it to evaluate them, draw conclusions and exercise the powers available to it. There is a system in place. I cannot test the evidence one way or the other in respect of what the Deputy correctly described as allegations. It is not my job to evaluate them. There is a process whereby the attention of the EPA can be brought to any local authority believed to be transgressing its responsibilities and the EPA has the powers to pursue it. If the Deputy wants to present information, it would certainly be made available to the EPA for assessment.