Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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413. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to outline the plans the Government and local councils have in place to ensure that all car wash sites are licensed to discharge waste and are compliant with all planning regulations in view of the increasing number of unauthorised pop-up car washes. [19955/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, all development, unless specifically exempted under the Act or associated Regulations, requires planning permission. Section 4 of the Act and Schedule 2 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001, as amended, set out various exemptions from the requirement to obtain planning permission, subject to the restrictions specified in Article 9 of the Regulations and the specific conditions set out in each class of exempted development in Schedule 2 of the Regulations. There is no specific exemption for car wash facilities.

Any development that is carried out without planning permission or that does not comply with the terms of a planning permission is unauthorised development and may be subject to enforcement action by a planning authority. Decisions on planning applications and enforcement of the requirements of the Planning Act and Regulations are designated functions of the planning authorities in the first instance and I have no role in relation to either matter.

In addition, under Section 16 of the Local Government (Water Pollution) Act 1977 (as amended), an individual or business may not discharge a trade effluent to a sewer except in accordance with a licence issued under the associated regulations. Therefore, a Trade Effluent Discharge to Sewer Licence issued by Irish Water must be in place where the discharge from a car wash is to a sewer.

Trade Effluent Discharge to Sewer Licences set out conditions that must be complied with. These may include the nature, composition and volume of the trade effluent discharge; the method of treatment, the location of discharge and the periods during which discharge may be made; as well as sampling requirements and applicable charges for the discharging of the trade effluent, as approved by the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER).

Local authorities have a general responsibility for the monitoring, management, protection and improvement of water quality. Irish Water is responsible for the issuing of licences for the discharge of trade effluent to their sewers. The Environmental Protection Agency, through its Office of Environmental Enforcement, exercises general supervision in relation to the performance of these functions by local authorities.