Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 61: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the steps that have been taken to comply with the Waste Framework Directive and the European Court of Justice ruling in Case 494/01 and in particular the need to clean up illegal waste sites, deter illegal waste activities and have sufficient waste disposal facilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8036/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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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 being taken in terms of 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. There has been subsequent correspondence and bilateral meetings have been held with the Commission by way of clarifying aspects of Ireland's response.

That response included information on the establishment of the Office of Environmental Enforcement and its National Enforcement Network, which has greatly raised awareness and brought a more coordinated and systematic approach to environmental enforcement. Special training has been rolled out, procedures for site visits have been developed, a new national complaints procedure was launched on 22 September 2005 and an illegal dumping information line was also launched in June 2006. This has been supported by State funding of over €7.5m which has led to over 120 additional enforcement officers being appointed across the local authorities.

Further correspondence from the Commission acknowledged the progress made in addressing the Court's concerns and drew attention to aspects still of concern to the Commission. A bilateral meeting with the Commission was held on 21 February 2008 aimed at addressing these concerns and both sides agreed to work towards bringing matters to a satisfactory conclusion in the coming months.