Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 276: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the regulations for scrapping cars; the criteria to be met in establishing and laying out the site; and the overall criteria for such a business. [11987/07]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 September 2000 on end-of life vehicles (ELVs) sets out specific measures to be put in place by EU Member States in relation to the collection, storage, treatment, dismantling, reuse and recycling of end-of-life vehicles. Under the Directive, each Member State is required, inter alia, to ensure that all end-of-life vehicles are dismantled, treated and recovered at no cost to the final holder/owner of that vehicle and in a manner that does not cause environmental pollution.

Enabling legislative provisions were included in the Protection of the Environment Act 2003 — which inserts a new part in the Waste Management Act 1996 — to facilitate the development of regulations concerning implementation of the Directive. The Waste Management (End-of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006, which came into effect on 8 June 2006, fully transpose the provisions of the Directive in Ireland and have been laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Any facility wishing to operate as an authorised treatment facility for the collection and storage and treatment of end-of-life vehicles is required to hold a permit in accordance with the Waste Management (Permit) Regulations 1998 or, as appropriate, a waste licence in accordance with the Waste Management (Licensing) Regulations 2004. The consideration of applications for waste permits and the decision making process in relation to the granting of waste permits, as well as ensuring compliance with the requirements of the regulations, is a matter for the relevant local authority and my Department has no function in the matter. The licensing of relevant waste facilities is a matter for the Environmental Protection Agency, which is independent in the exercise of its statutory functions in this regard.