James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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68. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if his Department has a register of historical landfill sites around the country; and if he is satisfied that adequate regulation, governance and, if necessary, remediation is in place regarding same, particularly in situations in which a site may have been at operational peak at a time when environmental and waste management rules were less developed. [38625/16]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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For the purposes of waste management planning, Ireland is divided into three regions: Connacht-Ulster; Eastern-Midlands and the Southern Region.  Waste management plans for the three regions include an inventory of sites identified as previous disposal or recovery sites.  Historic landfills are regarded as the landfills that were in operation in the period 1977 to 1997 and while they were not in breach of national legislation at the time, they are now considered as posing a possible risk to the environment and human health. Section 13 of the waste management plans sets out the approach to managing historic landfills in each region and Appendix F lists the sites in question at the level of individual local authority.

The Waste Management (Certification of Historic Unlicensed Waste Disposal and Recovery Activity) Regulations (S.I. No. 524 of 2008) provide for the certification of historic unlicensed waste disposal sites, registration of these facilities, the conduct of a risk assessment by local authorities and the determination of necessary remedial measures.  Sites also require a certificate of authorisation from the EPA.  Such a certificate determines the adequacy of the risk assessment and specifies any further necessary measures to ensure the protection of the environment.

To assist local authorities with risk assessment and to ensure a consistent approach, the EPA has developed a Code of Practice for Environmental Risk Assessment for Unregulated Waste Disposal Sites as well as an online tool for local authorities to record the detail of the risk assessments.

The Waste Management Planning Regions are now developing a work plan for the investigation, assessment and remediation of the landfills with priority attaching to the sites of highest risk.  My Department is working with the Planning Regions to ensure that we maximise the number of high-risk historic landfills that can be progressed towards remediation in an appropriate timeframe.  These are complicated projects so we must also ensure the projects are well-planned and well-executed, mindful of the environment and adjacent communities.