Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 199: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount of waste produced here by sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24175/08]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the way domestic and industrial waste is minimised, recycled and disposed of here; the breakdown on a percentage basis of the way it is disposed of or stored; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24176/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 199 and 200 together.

National waste statistics for all waste streams are published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the most recent National Waste Report being in respect of the year 2006. This report is available on the Agency's website: www.epa.ie

The Programme for Government clearly sets out the approach to waste management that will be reflected in national policy in the years ahead. It is firmly grounded in a continuing commitment to the waste hierarchy with a renewed drive towards the achievement of international best practice in the reduction, reuse and recycling of waste. This, coupled with an increasing emphasis on technologies for the mechanical and biological treatment of waste, will significantly reduce potential reliance on landfill and incineration. This commitment to the waste hierarchy has added significance in the context of the requirements of the Landfill Directive to divert biodegradable municipal waste from landfill. Meeting this obligation will entail doubling the existing level of diversion from landfill by 2010 and further increases in diversion in subsequent years.

To assist the process of ensuring that our waste management system can act in support of these objectives my Department has initiated a major review of waste management policy as set out in the Programme for Government. The review will chart a new way forward. Given the need to accelerate movement away from landfill quite dramatically, we need to examine all the technologies that can contribute to optimising our environmental performance in relation to waste. The review will be designed, in addition, to support the necessary legal, institutional and policy framework to achieve international best practice in the management of our waste. If the outcome of the review indicates a need for significant legislative changes I will bring the necessary proposals to Government in this regard.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the nature of a meeting held in 2007 with representatives of a company (details supplied) applying for an incinerator at Rathcoole, County Dublin; the details of what was discussed; if undertakings were given to the company concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24178/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Under the Waste Management Acts statutory responsibility for the making of regional waste management plans, which includes determinations in regard to the waste management infrastructure appropriate to each region, rests with the local authority (or local authorities) concerned and my Department has no function in this regard.

The proposed development in question is by a private company and my Department has no function in relation to this facility which it is understood will be the subject of an application to An Bord Pleanála for planning permission under the Planning and Development (Strategic Infrastructure) Act 2006. Under the Planning and Development Acts the Minister is specifically precluded from involvement in a matter for which the Board has statutory responsibility.

My Department and I hold regular consultations with stakeholders in the context of the ongoing implementation of Government policy on waste management. Consulting widely, with a range of stakeholders, is designed to ensure that my Department and I have as full as possible an understanding of the issues and concerns of stakeholders and are therefore in a position to address them, where it is possible and appropriate to do so. Such consultations are also useful to assist me and my Department in keeping up to date on alternative technologies to landfill and to traditional incineration. In July 2007 I met with an environmental consultant acting on behalf of the proposers of the project. The purpose of this meeting, and of a separate meeting with my Department, was to outline a form of thermal treatment of waste which, it is suggested, differs from conventional municipal waste incineration. There was, of course, no question of these discussions comprehending matters proper to the physical planning or environmental licensing processes from which I, and my Department, are precluded from involvement.

The Programme for Government clearly sets out the approach to waste management that will be reflected in national policy in the years ahead. It is firmly grounded in a continuing commitment to the waste hierarchy with a renewed drive towards the achievement of international best practice in the reduction, re-use and recycling of our waste. This, coupled with an increasing emphasis on technologies for the mechanical and biological treatment of waste, will significantly reduce potential reliance on landfill and incineration.