Written answers

Thursday, 25 March 2021

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Illegal Dumping

Photo of Johnny GuirkeJohnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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14. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the cost to Meath and Westmeath county councils, respectively, of illegal dumping in each of the years 2015 to 2020, in tabular form. [16076/21]

Photo of Johnny GuirkeJohnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of persons or companies fined for illegal dumping by Meath and Westmeath county councils, respectively, in each of the years 2015 to 2020, in tabular form. [16077/21]

Photo of Johnny GuirkeJohnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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16. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of persons or companies convicted of illegal dumping in Meath and Westmeath county council areas, respectively, in each of the years 2015 to 2020, in tabular form. [16078/21]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 14 to 16, inclusive, together.

Enforcement actions against illegal waste activity are a matter for local authorities and the Office of Environmental Enforcement within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA compiles comparative statistics on local authority performance relating to their waste enforcement activity under the Recommended Criteria for Environmental Inspection (RMCEI) process. Their most recent report for 2019 is available at epa.ie.

Information is also available through the Local Government Management Agency's series of service indicators annual reports which are available at lgma.ie. The Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) Annual Report for 2019, available at werla.ie, also contains useful data regarding actions taken by the wider local authority sector under the Waste Management Act.

While waste enforcement action is a matter in the first instance for local authorities, my Department encourages a multi-facetted approach to tackling the problem, incorporating enforcement, public awareness and education and, provides significant funding to support the activities of both the Waste Enforcement Regional Lead Authorities (WERLAs) and the national network of local authority waste enforcement officers. 

Questions in relation to the full annual costs of waste enforcement, litter fines imposed and prosecutions taken by individual local authorities should be directed towards those specific authorities.

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