Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and Senators. I am back again. I thank Senator Malcolm Byrne for bringing this legislation to the House. It is clearly well received by everybody. The Government will not oppose it. My staff tell me it is very well drafted and that it is fiendishly complex to do so because they have been working on the same problem.

We have had advertising and awareness-raising campaigns about littering and they have been successful. It is now socially unacceptable and shameful to throw litter on the ground. Every week, as many Senators have referenced, people get up early in the morning and clean up their town or village voluntarily in their Tidy Towns groups. In the privacy of their homes, people conscientiously segregate their waste into the correct colour bin and think about the environment. At the same time, there are people going up to beautiful scenic areas with kitchen appliances they plan to throw into a field, a mattress they will dump somewhere or, even worse, a trailer full of waste which they have been paid to dispose of and which they are furtively in the middle of the night throwing onto some farmer's land to make money.

Those people cannot be reached by an advertising or awareness campaign. They know what they are doing is wrong and the only thing that will make them change is a criminal sanction. For that, one needs evidence. Local authorities, of which we have all been members, have tried to gather that evidence and often failed because they have breached the laws on what is admissible and what they can do within the law.Even though the GDPR is often offered as an excuse, it is a real thing and sometimes prevents people from lawfully proceeding with a course of action and gathering evidence. Therefore, underpinning primary legislation is needed to provide a legal framework under which evidence can be gathered about littering. A statutory framework is needed and is the right approach.

The Senator has asked me not to come in here and say that I have my own legislation that I will do one day and not to worry about it. Many Senators asked when the circular economy Bill will be forthcoming. The general scheme of the Bill has undergone pre-legislative scrutiny and the report in that regard has been published. Drafting will start in the coming days. It is key priority legislation for this session. It is my intention that it will be completed as soon as possible.

Senators Boyhan, Ruane and others raised the issue of the infringement of civil liberties, which is a real concern. We are talking about surveillance here, but mass surveillance is incompatible with democracy. Nobody is suggesting that we should have cameras on every lamp post, gathering evidence all day that could be used retrospectively in respect of any crime. The circular economy Bill I will introduce does not allow for local authorities to piggyback on other people's CCTV footage and use it as a third party.

Limits and constraints are needed. Senator Malcolm Byrne's Bill proposes a code of practice for local authorities, as does my circular economy Bill. As Senator Boyhan stated, there is a difference between somebody watching a monitor in real time and seeing somebody committing a crime of dumping, for example, at a local authority recycling depot, and going through hours and hours of footage to find evidence retrospectively.

There was also mention of social media. People are advertising on social media to have rubbish taken away which is then being fly-tipped into somebody's property. That definitely needs to be looked at.

Senator Ruane, in expressing her fears on the overreach of CCTV use, referred to facial recognition and ANPR, which are also important. Will we allow for ANPR? Will we allow for facial recognition? How far would we go? How intrusive can we be? Senator Keogan asked about calibration. There is no point in having devices set up that are not functioning properly. These are all practical matters we need to consider.

The deposit-refund scheme, which I will introduce later this year, will make a big difference. Local Tidy Towns groups that gather up cans and bottles by the sackful will be aware that by September, I will introduce a scheme whereby those cans and bottles can be exchanged for roughly 20 cent at any shop that sells bottles or cans. A large portion of litter consists of those things. During the pandemic, many people were having picnics and so on, and leaving fields full of bottles and cans. People will not leave money on the ground in that way and certainly not to the same extent. What I propose in this regard will have a dramatic effect and will be very welcome.

The Government has a multifaceted approach for tackling littering and illegal dumping, incorporating enforcement, public awareness and education. We continue to invest significantly in the local authority network to ensure there is a robust, sustainable, waste-enforcement system in place to combat all illegal waste activity.

Ireland's Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy, published in September 2020, commits the Government to implementing a range of measures, including measures to tackle the problem of litter and illegal dumping. In a direct response to the findings of the Data Protection Commissioner on the use of CCTV and other recording devices, the action plan commits to ensuring that all waste enforcement legislation will be data-proofed to ensure that all available and emerging technologies can be fully utilised in a manner that is GDPR compliant. This brings me to the circular economy Bill, which will be introduced shortly. I intend that these commitments in the waste action plan will be given effect in the circular economy Bill. This will advance a number of priority provisions identified in the waste action plan. This will include provision for the GDPR-compliant use of a range of technologies such as CCTV, drones and other recording devices for waste-enforcement purposes. This will support ongoing work by local authorities to tackle illegal dumping and littering.

A combination of legislation, guidance, and the use of mandatory codes of practice will ensure that the processing of personal data may be carried out by local authorities tasked with enforcing litter and waste law. This will provide an important deterrent to protect our environment from the scourge of littering and illegal dumping, while at the same time respecting the privacy rights of citizens. My Department has welcomed the involvement of the Data Protection Commission in the development of these provisions. I fully expect that this co-operation will continue in the context of the development of codes of practice.

Other amendments to the Waste Management Acts in the Bill will further support local authorities in their work in this area. Provision will be made in the Bill for the use of fixed-penalty notices for additional waste streams, including under the extended producer responsibility model for dealing with waste tyres. Further provisions will help drive better segregation of waste in the commercial sector, where EPA statistics indicate that 70% of the material placed in the general waste bin should be in recycling or organic bins. This in turn will help us to attain our EU targets for recycling and landfill. The Bill will also help streamline and improve the end-of-waste and by-product application processes.

The Bill will also provide the necessary legislative basis for several key circular economy measures including the circular economy strategy and the circular economy programme. The adoption of a high-level, whole-of-government circular economy strategy will play a fundamental role and provide an overarching policy framework that works for the public, private and voluntary sectors. The first version of that strategy, which was published just before Christmas, sets out the first high-level steps we need to take to make the transition possible.

The circular economy programme, which will be implemented by the EPA, will provide critical evidence-led support to achieving the objectives of the strategy. Food waste is a global problem that has environmental, social and economic consequences. The circular economy Bill will place the national food waste prevention roadmap on a statutory footing and provide a pathway to achieving the goal of reducing food waste by 50% by 2030. Placing the strategy, programme and roadmap on a statutory footing will ensure that the circular economy transition remains a national policy priority.

The Bill will give the Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications the power to introduce new environmental levies on single-use items, including coffee cups, and, in due course, to prohibit the placing on the market of other environmentally harmful products, replacing and building on existing powers currently set out in waste legislation.

The general scheme of the circular economy Bill was published in June of last year and was the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Change. In October, the committee held three meetings, engaging with stakeholders and it also invited submissions. The detailed and comprehensive report of the committee was published on 16 December last and made 62 recommendations. I take this opportunity to thank the committee for its constructive and detailed engagement on the substance of the Bill. I intend to respond formally to the contents of the report when the Bill is published. Drafting of the Bill is now well advanced and, following consideration of the report of the committee, it is intended to finalise drafting and publish the Bill as soon as possible.

Senator Malcolm Byrne's Bill is well drafted. However, I am told it is fiendishly complex to come up with workable legislation and difficult to get right on the first draft. I have some minor constructive criticisms which I hope he will accept in the spirit in which they are given. The Bill intends to address the issues raised by the Data Protection Commissioner on GDPR-compliant use of CCTV by local authorities. As this seems to be its main intention, the Government has agreed in principle not to oppose the Bill. However, the Government is already well positioned to address the complex issues raised by the Data Protection Commission in the circular economy Bill.

As I outlined earlier, drafting of this Bill is well advanced. It has been the subject of pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Committee on the Environment and Climate Change, and detailed consultation with the Data Protection Commission.

The circular economy Bill will ensure that the processing of personal data may be carried out by local authorities tasked with enforcing litter and waste law, thus protecting our environment from the blight of illegal dumping, while at the same time respecting the privacy rights of citizens.

I wish to flag some concerns with Senator Malcolm Byrne's Bill, which will require careful and detailed analysis if it is to proceed through the legislative process. The Bill tabled identifies the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage as the responsible Minister.Senator Boyhan raised this issue. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has general responsibility for the local government system but, in this instance, policy responsibility for waste and litter pollution related offences under the Waste Management Act 1996 and the Litter Pollution Act 1997 rests with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. That is why I am here as a junior Minister at that Department with responsibility for the circular economy. It does make sense. I know it has to do with local authorities, but it also has to do with waste and waste prevention, which is my major preoccupation.

Overall, I thank all the Senators who have contributed on the Bill. The Government is not opposing it. The measures proposed in the Bill are something that would be generally welcomed and supported by the public. People want to find a way of enabling evidence to be gathered of people committing these crimes. I am advancing my legislation; the Senator has this Bill. One of them will be enacted first.