Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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150. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps he will take to address the issue of excess packaging; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23066/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy details the measures that will be adopted to achieve optimum results in reducing packaging waste. By 2030 all packaging on the Irish market must be reusable or recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030. To incentivise this the financial contributions paid by producers will be graduated to ensure the design and use of packaging that contributes to waste prevention and facilitates recycling.My Department is engaging with the European Commission as part of the review of the Packaging Directive. The focus of this engagement will be on reducing packaging and packaging waste by various measures including the setting of specific targets and considering restrictions on the use of some materials for certain applications, in particular where alternatives are available or where goods can be handled safely without packaging.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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151. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of degraded landfill sites by county in tabular form; the way in which applications were received by his Department from each of the four Dublin local authorities under the remediation of environmentally degraded landfill sites; the applications that were granted; the location of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23067/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Under the Waste Management Act, 1996 (amended) a statutory obligation is placed on local authorities to identify and risk-assess sites at which waste disposal activities were historically carried out in their respective areas and which may now present an environmental threat. A list of these sites was attached to the Regional Waste Management Plans 2015-2021 and is available on my Department's website at: . Work is underway to renew the plans, with the proposed single ‘National Waste Management Plan for a Circular Economy’ due for publication in 2022. This will provide a current picture of the status of all identified sites and will set out a roadmap for future delivery of the landfill remediation grant programme which was originally established in 2006. Funding allocations under the programme are managed through a National Landfill Remediation Steering Group comprised of representatives from the Local Authorities and chaired by my Department. To date a total of €158m has been paid through the programme.For 2021, I have approved funding in the amount of €3.6m for a total of 11 sites across Dublin City, Fingal, Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown and South Dublin Councils. Details are provided in the table below.

Table awaited from Department.