Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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597. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding the Irish Environmental Network; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24714/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Environment Fund was established by the Waste Management (Amendment) Act, 2001 and is managed by my Department. Income accrues to the Environment Fund from two sources – the plastic bag levy and the landfill levy. Both of these economic instruments are designed to encourage changes in behaviour; to tackle littering of plastic bags and to reduce over-reliance on unsustainable landfill as a waste disposal method. The rates of both levies have been increased as necessary in recent years in order to achieve those policy objectives. The two levies have been extremely successful in reducing plastic bag usage and in reducing tonnage to landfill, but, as a consequence of its success strictly from an environmental behaviour perspective, revenues to the Fund have been declining in recent years. Compared to €65.7m revenue to the Fund in 2012, total revenue to the Fund dropped to some €46m in 2014. The latest indications are that revenue from the landfill levy, which is the largest component of the Environment Fund, will suffer a further significant decline in 2015. Accordingly, the capacity of the Environment Fund to continue to support environmental initiatives and organisations is under increasing pressure.

In this context of a reduced Fund, I am currently giving careful consideration to the 2015 allocations and I hope to be in a position to announce these allocations in the very near future.