Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 31: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has completed his consideration of the European Court of First Instance decision to rule against Ireland for failure to protect human health through properly controlling waste dumps; the steps he is taking to ensure Ireland will in future comply with the European Commission's Waste Disposal Directive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36646/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A formal response by Ireland to the judgment of the European Court of Justice issued to the European Commission on 21 October 2005 detailing the measures now being taken in terms of the structures, legislation and policy approach to ensure the implementation of the provisions of Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste, as amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991, and thereby fulfil the obligations imposed by the directive.

The response includes information on the establishment of the Office of Environmental Enforcement and its National Enforcement Network, which has greatly raised awareness and brought a more co-ordinated and systematic approach to environmental enforcement. Special training has been rolled out, procedures for site visits are being developed, a new national complaints procedure was launched on 22 September 2005 and a national waste complaints information line is being developed. This has been backed up with State funding of over €7.5 million, which has led to over 110 additional enforcement officers being appointed across the local authorities permitting a greatly enhanced response on the ground with targeted exercises, road blocks, waste audits and port inspections.

These initiatives will add to the capacity to respond to situations more effectively. In general I am satisfied that these institutional and operational developments better equip the national and local enforcement authorities to meet the challenge posed by environmental crime, especially in the area of waste.