Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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86. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment whether consideration has been given for a dumping taskforce to tackle dumping in Cork city. [18098/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Waste Management Act, the primary responsibility for management and enforcement responses to illegal dumping lies with the local authorities. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the most appropriate awareness, enforcement and clean-up actions in relation to illegal dumping taking account of local circumstances. In that context it would be a matter for Cork City Council to determine whether to establish a taskforce to deal with illegal dumping issues.

My Department provides significant support to the local authority sector in their efforts to tackle illegal dumping. Almost €20.5m has been provided to the sector under the Anti-Dumping Initiative (ADI) since it was first introduced in 2017 in order to encourage a collaborative approach between local authorities, community groups and other State Agencies to tackling the problem. Innovative projects which recognise waste as a resource that can be re-purposed for use in a Circular Economy are particularly encouraged under the initiative. €2.8m was provided in support of the ADI in 2024 while allocations for 2025 will be finalised shortly.

Full details of the amounts provided to individual local authorities by my Department under the ADI for each of the years 2017 - 2024, including details of the specific projects carried out by Cork City Council over that period are available at the following link - www.gov.ie/en/publication/e27ac-anti-dumping-initiative/.

My Department also continues to invest heavily in the local authority waste enforcement network, through the Waste Enforcement Measures Grant Scheme, with the intention of maintaining a visible presence of waste enforcement personnel on the ground across the State. €7.58m was provided to local authorities under the scheme in 2024, including €275,000 to Cork City Council, while a further €7.7m has been allocated for 2025.