James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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455. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the estimated cost of cleaning up illegal dumping in County Wexford; his plans to strengthen sanctions on illegal dumping; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43683/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The cost of illegal dumping is not collated by my Department as it includes local authority enforcement, disposal and legal costs and also involves costs for other State agencies such as An Garda Síochána.

Penalties for serious dumping offences provided for under the Waste Management Acts are already substantial. Persons who are found to be responsible for, or involved in, the unauthorised disposal of waste are liable to a maximum fine of €5,000 on summary conviction and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months, and to a maximum fine of €15 million on conviction on indictment and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years.

My role, as Minister, is to provide the legislative and policy framework under which both local authority and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement action against illegal dumping is initiated. Enforcement action against illegal waste activity is a matter for the local authorities and the Office of Environmental Enforcement (OEE) of the EPA as appropriate.

Notwithstanding this arrangement, my Department encourages a multi-faceted approach to tackling the problem, incorporating enforcement, public awareness and education and, as such, provides funding to support the activities of a network of local authority waste enforcement officers. In this regard, since the introduction of the local authority waste enforcement grant in 2003, Wexford County Council has received approximately €3.2M.

My Department has also introduced an anti-dumping initiative to work in partnership with local authorities and community organisations in identifying high risk or problem areas, developing appropriate enforcement responses and carrying out clean-up operations. Wexford County Council received funding of €47,000 under the initiative this year to support twelve clean up, monitoring and restorative projects throughout the County. In response to the hugely positive reaction from local authorities and communities since I launched this measure, I will be making a further €1.3M available nationally to support its further development in 2018.