Party plans alternative strategy on waste

Proposals for an alternative waste management strategy for the Republic are to be produced this week by the Labour Party spokesman on the environment, Mr Eamon Gilmore.

Mr Gilmore said his party was producing the proposals because the current waste management strategy was "in tatters". He said the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, had attempted to shift his responsibility for waste management on to the local authorities, while it had been clear for some time that the regional waste management plans were in serious trouble.

Commenting on an article in yesterday's Irish Times which suggested that the Minister may pass on EU-imposed fines to local authorities because of their failure to adopt realistic plans, Mr Gilmore said this was a further failure on the part of central government.

"He has utterly failed to pursue any coherent National Waste Management strategy and he is now handing over the cost of this failure to local authorities," Mr Gilmore said.

The Green Party also criticised Mr Dempsey for what it said was his failure to use his powers under the 1996 Waste Management Act to tackle the waste crisis.

The Green Party spokesman on waste, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the Minister had "enormous" powers and he added that the EU legal action "puts him in the dock for these failures".

"Either the Minister starts to act by requiring the 100 per cent separation of wet and dry waste by an early date, and thorough policing of non-compliance, or else he should move over and let an effective successor take the hard decisions," Mr Sargent said.