Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the progress he has made to date in considering measures to regulate or reform the waste collection system nationally with respect to the findings of the Competition Authority in 2005 that the system was not working well for the consumer; the principal measures he is considering; if he intends to include a national waiver scheme in his plan; and when he intends to present his detailed proposals to the Houses of the Oireachtas. [16462/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I have now finalised my detailed consideration of options for regulating the waste management sector. I intend shortly to bring proposals to Government and it will then be possible to provide fuller details.

I am fully aware of the difficulties which the Competition Authority has identified in the waste collection market. In examining the sector, I have looked at the Authority's concerns, along with a wide range of complex socio-economic and environmental issues which affect both the consumer and the waste industry.

The waste sector is changing rapidly, particularly due to the introduction of much higher environmental standards and the implementation of the polluter pays principle. In order to improve our environmental management, my Department has been providing substantial amounts of funding to enable local authorities to provide waste recycling and recovery infrastructure which will assist households to reduce the amount of waste which they send to landfill. The increased access to recycling facilities, coupled with the introduction of pay-by-use charging, has assisted households to reduce their levels of waste disposal and increase their control over their waste management charges. As a measure of its success, by 2004 we were recycling over 33% of our municipal waste compared to only 9% in 1998.

Recent years have also seen rapid growth and consolidation in the private waste management industry. This has raised a number of issues. The dual role of local authorities as both competitor and regulator may distort competition while, as noted by the Competition Authority, there may also be a tendency for individual waste collectors to acquire dominant positions in particular areas. In such cases, the market could not be regarded as working well for consumers. It follows that the current regulatory framework needs to be reappraised.

In relation to lower income households, my Department has asked local authorities to engage with private sector waste collectors to ensure that households are offered a range of periodic payment options so that they do not have to make a lump sum payment. It is also open to waste collectors to provide waivers to individuals and households where they deem it appropriate. It is not proposed to introduce a national waiver scheme. The question of whether there may be public service obligations relating to the waste sector and, if so, how these could be met, has been included in my consideration of possible measures to regulate the sector.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on remarks that a nominee of his to the advisory committee of the Environmental Protection Agency forwarded a letter from the managing director of an illegal dump addressed to him to the Environmental Protection Agency's deputy director-general; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16616/06]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The correspondence in question is a letter from the managing director of a company which purchased a site in Co. Wicklow which had previously been used to illegally deposit waste. The site in question is the subject of an application to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the company concerned for a waste licence. The EPA recently issued a draft negative decision. The letter sought to provide me with an update in regard to this matter. As it was submitted for this stated purpose and did not seek any intervention by me or my Department, a standard acknowledgement was issued by my Department. No further reply was made, nor did my Department correspond or communicate with EPA on the matter.

It was subsequently reported in a newspaper that this correspondence had been sent to me by a person whom I had nominated as a member of the EPA Advisory Committee. This was incorrect and the error has been acknowledged by the newspaper concerned. In fact, the nominee forwarded a copy of the correspondence, without reference to me, to the Deputy Director General of the EPA. In accordance with normal practice the Agency placed a copy of the correspondence on the public file dealing with the licence application which is available for inspection by any person.

The Agency's Advisory Committee has the responsibility of making general recommendations to the Agency and to the Minister in relation to functions of the Agency. The Committee is entirely a consultative body and is not involved in any individual EPA decisions.