Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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575. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for waste enforcement in the southern region; how he anticipates enforcement will be carried out; if this will be done by private agencies or by public bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42771/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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A Resource Opportunity, which sets out our national waste management policy,contains a commitment to complete a review of the respective regulatory and enforcement roles of the Environment Protection Agency and local authorities. A Review Group, established for that purpose in 2013 and comprising representatives from local authorities, the regional waste management offices, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Transfrontier Shipment Office, the National Waste Collection Permit Office and An Garda Síochána, identified the existing strengths and weaknesses in this area and made recommendations for the future. The review was also carried out in the context of the examination being undertaken by local government with respect to its existing service delivery models and cost base, and in identifying more efficient ways and means by which services could be delivered.

The Group recommended the establishment of three new regional lead authorities to drive improved performance and greater consistency in waste enforcement. My Department engaged subsequently with Local Authority Chief Executives and Directors of Service, through the Programme Management Office of the Local Government Management Agency and the Public Service Reform and Oversight Group, to develop the work of the 2013 Review and to invite expressions of interest from local authorities who wished to bid for the role.

On 9 October, following an open and highly competitive bidding process, Cork County Council, Dublin City Council and Leitrim & Donegal County Councils (in a combined bid) were selected as the new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities for the Southern, Eastern and Midlands, and Connacht /Ulster Regions respectively.

Each of these new Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) will have responsibility for co-ordinating waste enforcement actions within regions, setting priorities and common objectives for waste enforcement, ensuring consistent enforcement of waste legislation across the three existing waste management planning regions, while still leaving local authority personnel as first responders on the ground to specific breaches of waste legislation. This is intended to facilitate a transformation from process-driven enforcement, structured around separate implementation of individual regulations, to one that focuses greatest effort on the waste problems and issues that matter most and to take swift, proportionate and effective action.

This structure will also complement the existing regional waste management planning group structure and the cooperative multi-agency approach of the Network for Ireland's Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (NIECE). The establishment of lead regional enforcement authorities will also facilitate more streamlining of the tasks currently undertaken in the waste enforcement area.

The structures are to be put in place for an initial period of five years with a review as to their effectiveness carried out after Year Two. A key point to note is that no enforcement powers are being taken away or transferred from local authorities to the WERLAs and the current waste enforcement network will be maintained. Consequently, local authorities will continue to receive the same level of enforcement grant subvention as heretofore, with the additional costs of establishing and staffing the three regional enforcement offices being also met by my Department.

The work of the WERLAs will be overseen by a National Steering Committee which will be chaired initially by my Department. The National Committee will determine national waste enforcement priorities for WERLAs and drive consistency at a central level. The Committee will include representatives from a wide range of regulatory authorities. A National Steering Committee Contact Group will also be established to ensure that other stakeholders have a direct channel to the National Committee.