Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)

Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirligh. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, who is present to take this important legislation which ties up many anomalies that may be contained within various pieces of legislation which come under his remit. While we on this side of the House always welcome any legislation that aims to serve the protection of our environment, there are a number of areas within the proposed Bill that are a cause of concern to us, and we will be tabling amendments on Committee Stage. However, in the general context, we will not be opposing the Bill on Second Stage.

While I welcome the clarification provided by this Bill on certain aspects of environmental protection and on the direction being taken by the Department, there are some items I would question. The provisions to do with smoky coal in Part 3, as mentioned by the Minister, of the Bill are a cause of concern to us. It is not clear whether this would extend at some stage in the future to solid fuel such as turf, logs or peat or any other fuel that may be generated from within farmlands or agricultural lands and used for domestic purposes only. That must be clarified. In rural parts, including the west, due to the increase in oil prices, the vast majority of people are going back to the bog to cut turf to use for their own domestic supply. There must be absolute clarity in the legislation with regard to this issue so that there is no fear, now or in the future, that people will be penalised for burning or indeed selling logs, turf or peat within their own communities. Perhaps the Minister could clarify the position on that.

I would like to mention the proposed increase in landfill charges. I listened to the Minister describe where he is going with this Bill. We all support efforts to divert waste from landfill to more environmentally friendly methods of dealing with waste. Last year, 61% of municipal waste went to landfill, which is quite a high proportion. We also know that in many parts of the country efforts are not being made to divert some of that waste from landfill - particularly organic and biodegradable waste, which comprises about 30% overall - through the three-bin system. While the system has been established in certain parts of the country, it is the considered opinion that if it was in place in all parts of the country it could cut the amount of waste going to landfill by about 40%. Perhaps that is something the Minister could consider implementing in a more aggressive manner rather than imposing additional charges to try to bring in money for local authorities and the Department by the back door.

It is my understanding that about 24% or 25% of households have access to the three-bin system for treatment of biodegradable and organic waste. I am sure the Minister will agree that on a national level, every effort must be made to try to increase this to at least 50% or 60% over the next couple of years. If the service was available, people would avail of it. At the moment, however, the service is not available in many areas of the country, particularly in rural areas. The challenge for the Department is to try to make sure the service is available to all households, whether urban or rural.

The Minister said in his speech that the landfill charge would increase to €50 per tonne from September of this year, to €65 per tonne in July 2012 and to €75 in July 2013. In my own local authority area, the current landfill levy is €30 per tonne. I have spoken to waste collectors in my own county about this. It will be open to the Minister, if this legislation is passed, to impose the maximum levy of €120 per tonne at any time in the future. What that would mean, according to private waste collectors and officials within local authorities, is that the cost of bin collection could double from approximately €300 or €400 in certain parts of the country this year to €600 or €800. That is a burden that householders cannot afford. The path the Department should follow is to try to find alternative methods of treating waste, rather than penalising householders. It is not their fault we are trying to divert waste from landfill and that the facilities are not already in place, and they should not be penalised for that.

In many local authority areas, the capacity of landfill is reaching breaking point. Alternative methods of treating waste must be found. For example, in the north west, much of the waste is now leaving counties Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim and going further south. It is economically beneficial for waste collectors to do things that way because there is now competition among all county councils to provide the cheapest facilities to dispose of waste. We will be opposing the increase in the landfill charge because it will potentially push up the cost of waste collection for ordinary households which are currently finding it difficult to meet their increasing bills.

Something that is not addressed in this Bill, which was a surprise to us, is illegal dumping. This is a huge issue all over the country. Fly-tipping takes place in many different areas and it is no different in Donegal, with very many people, some of them coming from the North of Ireland for weekends, dumping their waste into the hedgerows. It is disgraceful and unacceptable behaviour and I am surprised the opportunity has not been taken to increase the fines for illegal dumping in this Bill.

The plastic bag levy - which was introduced by the Fianna Fáil Government back in 2001 or 2002, much to the discontent of a plastic bag manufacturer in my own constituency - is referred to in the Bill. In general terms, it has been hugely successful. I understand the revenue spin-off to the Exchequer was about €22.5 million back in 2007. The levy is working. We no longer see plastic bags in every hedgerow up and down the country. When the levy was introduced first it was 15 cent. It is now at 22 cent. However, to increase the tax to 70 cent per plastic bag in one fell swoop would be totally unacceptable.

The Department should be considering alternatives in conjunction with the retail sector. As in the United States, paper bags should be available at all retail stores so that we can move away from plastic bags. This measure is probably being used as a convenient way to collect money for the Exchequer but we cannot support it because of the effect on the ordinary households. Mothers who go out to buy the weekly shopping will perhaps have to buy a plastic bag or two because there is no alternative in the supermarket, yet the cost is being increased to 70 cent per bag.

The last issue to which I wish to refer is that of the transfer of responsibility for special protection areas, SPAs, to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. I have no difficulty with that, but I do have a major difficulty with the manner in which the notifications for SPAs are being handled by the Department. Farmers have received letters advising them that their lands have been categorised as special protection areas, while other farmers, who are adjoining landowners and whose lands have been categorised as special protection areas, have not received such letters. While farmers are notified of such reclassification, individual farmers must be met, and we will press for this in an amendment to the Bill. A meeting must be held between Department officials and the farmers whose lands are being reclassified. The consequences of the reclassification of land as a special protection area are extreme for people with young families who may wish to build houses or even for a farmer in terms of crop rotation. If a farmer is rotating from a crop of turnips to grassland, he has to notify the Department and get permission to do that or to put in a road or put up fencing. It is an issue which is affecting many farmers in my parish and adjoining parishes.