Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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468. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the per capita waste management and enforcement staff numbers in the EPA and waste officers in local authorities here compared to the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium. [27962/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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My commitment to supporting waste enforcement activities on the ground is demonstrated through the continued annual investment of €7.4 million in the network of 150 local authority waste enforcement officers, increased resources for the Environmental Protection Agency with an allocation of €34.8 million this year and the further development of the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authority Offices with an annual budget in excess of €1 million. My Department has also provided €3.3 million to support the national anti-dumping initiative in the past two years.

Notwithstanding this support provided from the centre, it is a matter for local authorities to ensure that the statutory functions that they are charged with delivering are adequately resourced, that they engage proactively with the other resources available through the EPA’s NIECE Enforcement Network and that staff avail of the multitude of training and development opportunities to them as professional waste enforcement practitioners.

While the per capita waste management and staff numbers of other EU Member States are not recorded by my Department, a European Council evaluation report, entitled “The practical implementation and operation of European policies on preventing and combatting environmental crime in Ireland”, which was published this year states that “The commitment of the Irish Government to supporting the enforcement of environmental regulation in Ireland has been demonstrated through continued investment in the network of local authority waste enforcement officers, increased resources for the EPA and the further development of the WERLA”. The report further states that “the evaluation team found in the Irish system many examples of best practices to be shared with the other Member States.”