Cyprian Brady (Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss this important issue. I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate him on the progress he has made during his short period in office.

When considering waste management we must look back to the position from which we started. In the mid-1990s, less than a decade ago, waste became the final environmental issue to be subject to modern legislation and policy development. Until then, it had not been considered important. At that time, we relied on low cost, poorly managed landfills, had no recycling facilities or biological treatment of waste and public awareness of the consequences of our actions in the area of waste was low. One of the main changes during the short intervening period has been a large increase in public awareness.

We are moving rapidly towards having a small number of regulated landfills licensed by the Environmental Protection Agency. Some biological treatment and energy recovery also takes place and this is important. Contrary to comments made by previous speakers, recycling rates have increased from 9% in 1998, shortly after the Opposition parties left office, to 30% currently.