Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 1370: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the extent by which the 2004 guidelines requiring waste collection permits contain a condition obliging the operator to conform with the producer pays principle. [24971/05]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 1371: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the requirement in circular WIR 05/04 that local authorities take the opportunity of the collection permit review to include conditions requiring collectors to have either a pay-by-weight or pay-by-volume system in place by 1 January 2005 has not been implemented in the Dublin area and that Dublin City Council has received legal advice to the effect that such a condition cannot be included in a waste disposal permit. [24972/05]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 1372: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will introduce the necessary legislative changes to ensure that each residential unit in managed residential developments is billed for the volume or weight of waste which the unit produces in order that residents are given the opportunity to control their own waste bills rather than allowing the current practice of a shared bin service which suits the waste collection operator. [24973/05]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 1373: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will amend the draft Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2005 to prevent waste collection permit holders from charging residential management companies for a shared weight bin rate. [24974/05]

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 1374: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact in spite of the requirement in section 21 of the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2001 that all permits be reviewed once every two years. Since 2001 none of the permits in the Dublin area has been subject to such a review. 24975/05

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 1379: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, further to Question No 516 of 26 April 2005 if he will introduce a simplified licensing system for the movement of builders' rubble; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25102/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1370 to 1374, inclusive, and 1379 together.

The primary purpose of the permitting system brought in under the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2001 is to facilitate appropriate controls on commercial collection activities for the purposes of environmental protection and to facilitate the implementation of waste management plans and the achievement of the objectives of those plans. Implementation of the regulations is a matter for the local authorities concerned. The Environmental Protection Agency, through its Office of Environmental Enforcement, exercises a supervisory role in respect of the environmental protection activities of local authorities. The Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations and also the Waste Management (Permit) Regulations 1998 are under review. The purpose of the review is to provide local authorities with any additional statutory powers that are necessary to ensure that local waste collection and facility activities operate to a high environmental standard, in conformity with the polluter pays principle and, in regard to collection services, the principle of pay-by-use. It should be noted that pay-by-use charging systems have been widely implemented in the context of the existing regulatory provisions, including by Dublin City Council. The determination of the precise form of such charges remains a matter for individual local authorities, where they are service providers, or individual private operators.

As part of this review process, revised draft regulations have been prepared and are the subject of a public consultation. In finalising the new regulations, regard will be had to the submissions from stakeholders and also to the legal advice which Dublin City Council has received.

The draft revised waste permit regulations address a number of other issues, including the permitting of inert soil and construction type wastes which are being used for the purposes of land reclamation and other similar activities.