Written answers

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government

Health and Safety Regulations

10:00 pm

Photo of Terence FlanaganTerence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24780/09]

Photo of John GormleyJohn Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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A number of distinct issues are raised in the correspondence.

Section 30 of the Fire Services Act 1981 provides that every person who knowingly gives or causes to be given a false alarm (whether by means of a street fire alarm, a telephone communication, a direct statement, a message or otherwise) to a fire brigade maintained by a fire authority is guilty of an offence.

With regard to the issue of continuously sounding fire alarms from a noise nuisance perspective, there are a number of measures currently in place to deal with falsely activated alarms. It is open to local authorities under section 107 of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 to require measures to be taken to prevent or limit noise causing nuisance from a premises. The Environment Section of the local authority is the appropriate point of contact in this regard.

Under the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992, it is open to any person, or group of persons to seek an order in the district court to have noise giving reasonable cause for annoyance abated. The procedures involved have been simplified to allow action to be taken without legal representation. A public information leaflet outlining the legal avenues open to persons experiencing noise nuisance is available at www.environ.ie

The Programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce comprehensive legislation on noise pollution within the lifetime of this Government. The Government recently approved the drafting of a Noise Nuisance Bill with a view to its publication later in 2009.

With regard to the issue of abandoned cars, section 71 of the Waste Management Acts 1996 to 2008 prohibits the abandonment of vehicles on any land, creates an offence in this regard and enables local authorities to enter on any land upon which vehicles have been abandoned to remove and store such abandoned vehicles. Such vehicles may subsequently become the property of the authority if not reclaimed by the registered owner within a period of four weeks. Prosecution under the Waste Management Acts may result in fines of up to €3,000 and/or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months on foot of a summary conviction.

A local authority may also seek reimbursement of the costs for the removal and storage of abandoned vehicles from the registered owners of such vehicles. For the purposes of the Acts, 'abandoned', in relation to a vehicle, includes left in such circumstances or for such period that it is reasonable to assume that the vehicle has been abandoned. In this context, local authorities have reasonable discretion when determining whether or not a vehicle has been abandoned and may take a number of factors into consideration.

Section 32(1) of the Acts also provides that a person should not hold, transport, recover or dispose of waste in a manner that causes or is likely to cause environmental pollution. In broad terms, this imposes a general duty of care on the registered owner of a vehicle to arrange for its disposal at end-of-life in an environmentally sound manner (i.e. by transferring it to an authorised treatment facility which has been permitted for the disposal of end-of-life vehicles).

Where an abandoned vehicle, which has been removed and stored by a local authority for the period prescribed in the Acts, is not reclaimed by the registered owner and the local authority decides to dispose of the vehicle, then the vehicle concerned becomes an end-of-life vehicle within the meaning of the Waste Management (End-of-Life Vehicles) Regulations 2006 and must be deposited at an authorised treatment facility for appropriate treatment and recovery.

Finally, on the issue of planting trees in urban areas, this is a matter, in the first instance, for each local authority. I understand that local authorities engage in tree planting programmes, especially during National Tree Week, in conjunction with the Tree Council of Ireland.

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