Michael Brennan (Fianna Fail)

I, too, welcome the Minister. I fully agree with him that it is time for tough decisions and new regulations to be made in regard to pollution prevention, control of the licensing system and the new amendments to the 1997 Act. The Bill also includes measures to strengthen the existing licensing system in terms of implementation and enforcement, especially with regard to pollution prevention and the minimising of environmental problems at source.

The inclusion of emission levels in licences is to be welcomed. Applicants for licences will have to fit the official criteria defined in the Bill and the provision for withdrawing and suspending licences.

In the light of the fact that responsibility for waste management plans is being passed to managerial level, I thank the members of local authorities who have played a leading role in implementing the plans in recent years. I refer to my own area of the mid-west where the waste management plan was adopted by all the councils. Management will be implementing only what the councillors passed in their own local authorities. It is very important to recognise that any amendments to be made to a plan will involve consultation between each county manager and the local authorities concerned.

Let us consider circumstances in which local authority managers are operating as regulators as regards the issuing of licences. We have all seen numerous milk trucks going down the one road doing the one service. Will local authorities have power, when issuing licences, to determine what areas in which these operators can operate? Will they dictate the charges for the collection of refuse, as issued under the licences?

The regional waste management plan will now focus on implementation of these crucial regional plans. It is important to put in place the infrastructure necessary to maximise waste prevention. Also, it is important that local authorities have the means and funding to implement the new laws.