Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, to the Chamber. I thank him for coming in to take this Commencement matter and thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting it. This relates to the need for the Minister to make a statement on the alleged illegal dumping of toxic waste at a site in Bunnamayne, County Donegal.

Without listing them, a number of public representatives in this area have made contact with my office. They are extremely frustrated at the lack of any progress made in Donegal County Council, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and the regulatory authorities which should be dealing with this matter.

This is a long dispute which has been ongoing for over 20 years. The Minister of State, as someone who is very much in contact with and close to his constituents, can imagine the importance of an illegal dump in terms of pollution into the water stream and general environmental nuisance. There appears to be a major issue.

I thank the media, particularly the provincial newspapers in Donegal and Donegal Now, which is an online publication that has done a great deal of work in highlighting this issue.

There is general frustration that nothing is happening. To date, Donegal County Council confirmed there is an issue. There is an ongoing investigation into it. The local authority accepts it has responsibility for safety and for prosecuting those who are in breach of the law. The EPA has confirmed that it carried out tests in 2014 and that there is contamination of the soil and the water, and in conjunction with Donegal County Council, it was trying to pursue the matter.

I thank public broadcasting, particularly "RTÉ Investigates". Fair play to them. "RTÉ Investigates" decided to investigate the matter and we saw a programme televised on 18 June last.

The real issue is there is a festering dispute and a sore that has gone on for 20 years regarding the leeching of toxic waste into the environment. It is putting people and animals in the community at risk.

I hope to hear from the Minister of State today how this matter will be resolved. It is not a matter of the blame game at this stage. It has gone on for 20 years. There is an acknowledgement by the Environmental Protection Agency, the local authority and the Department, that something - pardon the pun - stinks and it needs to be resolved. I want to hear today how we can resolve this issue, remediate the site and, ultimately, support the campaign of local residents and councillors. Having spoken to somebody today, I might add that they plan to field their own candidates in the next local elections because they feel this is so important and no one is listening to them. It is important now, after 20 years, that we find a resolution to this ongoing dispute.