Illegal dumping: Cullen stresses role for police forces on Border to deal with any paramilitary involvement in dumping, writes Frank McDonald, Environment Editor
The "creeping criminality" involved in illegal waste disposal "has to be dealt with and faced down", the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, said yesterday.
Speaking at the launch of the latest review of Ireland's environment, the Minister said the Government was "seriously concerned" about the possible involvement of paramilitaries in this trade, and believed there was a "very strong role" for the police on both sides of the Border in dealing with it.
"This must be stopped," he said.
Dr Mary Kelly, director general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said its new Office of Environmental Enforcement was co-operating with both the Garda and the PSNI to stem the cross-Border dimension of the illegal waste trade.
She said the EPA had finalised a tender last week for a study to quantify the extent of this trade. "We're having a fundamental look at who's doing it and going after them," Dr Kelly said, adding that steps were also being taken against illegal dumpers in Co Wicklow.
The new office would be putting a spotlight on environmental polluters. "It is vital that those who contravene environmental laws are held accountable and made to pay for their actions, irrespective of whether the offender is a public body or a private business."
Mr Gerard O'Leary, one of the authors of the EPA's review, "Ireland's Environment 2004", stressed the need for more recycling as the volume of municipal waste could grow from 3 million to 11 million tonnes by 2013 based on current trends.
Data just compiled for 2002 showed that the household recycling rate for the State increased from 5.6 per cent in the previous year to 9.3 per cent. Further progress was made in 2003, when the recycling rate in Dublin city reached 20 per cent.
When commercial waste is included, the position is even more encouraging, Mr Cullen said. A recycling rate of 13 per cent in 2001 rose to almost 21 per cent in 2002 - "a major leap forward towards our 35 per cent recycling rate target for 2013".
However, Dr Kelly cautioned that progress on recycling "has been stymied somewhat by the overall growth in waste".
This was "unsustainable and requires a continuing focus on waste prevention" and further development of "appropriate infrastructure".
As it prepares to consider granting a licence for Indaver's controversial hazardous waste incinerator in Ringaskiddy in Cork Harbour, the review says the provision of an indigenous thermal treatment hazardous waste disposal facility "remains a priority".
Though Ireland's environment was "in a relatively healthy condition", Dr Kelly said problems and threats remained, as documented by the review. She described it as a "call to arms for policy-makers . . . to put the environment at the top of the political agenda".