Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 275: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding the Fitzpatrick Report that was carried out for the National Strategy Group on packaging waste recycling; if this report was published by his Department; and if it is available to the public. [2940/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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A National Strategy Group on Packaging Waste Recycling — which is co-chaired by my Department and Repak and involves key public and private sector stakeholders — was established in late 2004 to monitor and further develop the regulatory packaging waste regime in Ireland in the context of the new recovery and recycling targets set for 2011 under the new Directive 2004/12/EC.

The Strategy Group carried out a comprehensive review of the regulatory regime governing the recovery and recycling of packaging waste nationally which led in the first instance to the introduction of amending regulations in late 2004 and ultimately culminated in the new consolidated packaging regulations which will come into effect on 31 March 2008. The report referred to in the Question was carried out in the context of that review. It was commissioned by Repak Limited; consequently, the issue of publishing this report is a matter for Repak.

Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 276: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of companies registered with a company (details supplied) under the packaging regulations; and the number of companies registered as self complying with the regulations; and the number of companies estimated neither to have registered with the company or as self complying that are required to do so under the legislation. [2941/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The data sought in the Question are not available in my Department. Major producers i.e. those who have an annual turnover in excess of €1 million and who place more than 25 tonnes of packaging on the Irish market, have additional responsibilities with regard to the recovery of packaging waste from their customers, meeting targets, signage, reporting of specified data and registration with local authorities.

Major producers have the option of either complying directly with their producer responsibility obligations (i.e. self-compliance), or alternatively, getting an exemption from those requirements by becoming a member of a Repak, the producer compliance scheme for packaging waste.

Information on the number of companies participating in the compliance scheme may be obtained from Repak directly. Similarly, given that self-compliant major producers are required to register with each local authority in whose functional area their premises are located, accurate data on the number of self-compliers may be obtained directly from individual local authorities.