Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will reinstate the MRF subvention that has traditionally been paid to Waterford County Council since 2006, for 2012 and 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1066/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Payments made from the Environment Fund by my Department towards the operating costs of the Dungarvan Materials Recovery Facility were not part of the ongoing subvention scheme for Civic Amenity Sites nationally. The funding involved was considered on a year to year basis, having regard to the performance of the facility and availability of funds. In recent years, the Environment Fund has come under significant additional expenditure pressures, while at the same time the Fund’s income base has been affected by the very welcome successes of the landfill levy in diverting waste from landfill and the plastic bag levy in reducing plastic bag usage.

This has required significant reductions in a range of expenditure areas financed from the Fund and, in that context, and taking account of value for money considerations, it is not possible to continue with the subvention sought in respect of the Dungarvan facility. However, it should be noted that my Department continues to make a significant general purpose grant allocation to Waterford County Council to contribute towards meeting the cost of providing a reasonable level of services to customers. In this regard, I have approved €18,176,169 in general purpose funding to the Council for 2013, an increase of 1.61% on the 2012 allocation.