Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

No, that is not the one. The T90 case is a separate issue about which I have met recently with officials of Leitrim County Council. To the best of our ability, we are pursuing a resolution to that matter, which is not confined to Leitrim but affects other areas of the country as well.

Senator Quinn mentioned electronic waste and its reuse. That matter will be addressed as part of the consultation on waste policy in the coming weeks. I look forward to Senator Quinn's contribution to that process at that time.

On Senator Byrne's contribution, the Government's primary aim in the development of a new waste policy is to ensure that we meet our obligations under EU law. I am sure the Senator would not want the Government to break the law. The most pressing challenge in this area is compliance with the limits set in the landfill directive for the volume of waste which can be sent to landfill. The targets are 2013 and 2016. The Environmental Protection Agency put Ireland at risk of missing these targets in the 2009 national waste report. We have to address alternatives to landfilling our waste. With the opening of Ireland's first municipal waste incinerator later this year in the Senator's constituency, it is clear that incineration will play some part in diverting waste from landfill. A range of other measures are also being taken into account in developing a sustainable waste policy. For example, the national waste prevention programme will continue to support businesses and the public in reducing the amount of waste produced, thus saving them money in the process. The roll-out of segregated collections will also help to ensure the diversion of waste from landfill to more productive uses, such as composting and anaerobic digestion. It is therefore not a question of being pro-incineration but of meeting our obligations under the law. There is nothing further I can say about that, but we cannot put our heads in the sand. It was the Senator's government that signed up to incineration.