Protection of the Environment Bill 2003

29th May 2003

Ciarán draws attention to problems with the Government's bill.

Mr. Cuffe: I welcome many aspects of this Bill, but it is in many ways a curate's egg - it is good in parts.  The Minister is somewhat like a curate in that he is adopting a fairly sanctimonious and superior approach and preaching to us about the proper way forward.

Mr. Cullen: I do not mean any discourtesy to any Deputies, but unfortunately I had been having a meeting with the county managers since 11.30 a.m., at which we discussed many issues, and I left it to come over here.  I have an hour to get back to it, so if the Deputy does not mind, my colleague will sit in for me so that I can finish this meeting.  It had been arranged months ago.  It is a coincidence that it was scheduled for today.  I will pick up on the debate later.  I mean no disrespect to the Green Party, Sinn Féin or anybody else who has not spoken.

Mr. Cuffe: I thank the Minister.  I was going to comment on the shade of blue on the Minister's tie, which somewhat resembles the Bill.  It is sky-blue from a distance, promising a clean and healthy existence, but there are aspects of conservatism in it.

Mr. Gilmore: It is Tory blue.

Mr. Cuffe: Also, as one approaches it one notices a faint whiff of smoke.  This reflects somewhat the substance of the Bill, which is promoting incineration as a panacea.  Unfortunately, the Minister is not here to take this up.

I note that the Minister is absenting himself to confer with the County and City Managers' Association and I take offence at that.  The Minister may have an answer to this, but our waste policy is being decided by the Minister in solemn conclave with the city and county managers, who have not been elected, have no democratic mandate and are not answerable directly to the people but only to their own councillors.  This is a very disturbing trend.  The major decisions in our local authorities are not being taken by elected members but by the city and county managers.  The substance of this Bill - and one of its most appalling and draconian aspects - is to take away the democratic powers of a local authority and hand them to a county or city manager.  I regard this as a savage attack on local democracy.  To take power from local authorities and councillors is a retrograde step and does not bode well for the future of local democracy.

Many aspects of the Bill are worth commending.  I applaud the mention of greenhouse gases and climate change within the Bill.  I look forward to seeing tighter controls and an increase in fines.  However, the Bill gives the green light to incineration and creates a permanent democratic deficit.  On that substantive issue, my party will oppose the Bill.

The former Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, introduced a plastic bags levy, albeit many years after the Green Party first proposed it to his predecessors in Government.  However, this time last year the Government stood idly by as the Irish Glass Bottle company in Ringsend closed its doors forever.  We had a proper recycling facility in the heart of the nation's capital and the Government watched as it closed its doors and its employees joined the dole queues.  That incident epitomised this Government's approach to creating employment in recycling and coming up with green initiatives.

The Government then failed to take up our idea of a beverage container levy.  There should be some kind of levy on a litre of milk or a bottle of Coca-Cola to encourage recycling.  The Minister is not doing that, so our highways and byways are littered with empty plastic containers and aluminium cans.  Why does he not take up our idea and introduce a beverage container levy to encourage recycling?  As a child in the early 1970s I remember pulling up empty Cidona bottles from underneath bushes so I could get a shilling or five pence.  This encouraged me to recycle.  Why does the Minister not introduce this?  Why does he not introduce more innovative measures to encourage recycling?  It is not rocket science, it is simple enough, and we encourage the Minister to do it.

When it comes to the environment, we have a huge amount to do.  This is the worst country in Europe for climate change emissions.  Our greenhouse gases are going off the scale while the Minister stands idly by.  He is pumping money into new roads and increasing our climate change emissions.  In a couple of years we will face draconian fines from Europe for our failure to tackle climate change seriously.  While this Bill mentions the issue, it does nothing to encourage a reduction in climate change emissions.

There are illegal dumps in the Garden of Ireland.  Illegal dumping is continuing and will continue unless something is done about it.  While I appreciate that the Minister is setting up an office of environmental enforcement, we need action, not words.  Why does the Minister not set up a task force to tackle illegal dumping?  Dumps covering hundreds of acres have been illegally placed all over the country, particularly in County Wicklow, and we have yet to see real action taken to combat this or to initiate a clean-up, especially of a particular dump that threatens Dublin's water supply.  This is the reality of what is happening to our environment - huge increases in climate change emissions and illegal dumps left, right and centre.  The Minister should tackle this, but we have yet to see action on the ground.  

Within the Bill, there is a separate system for integrated pollution control licensing and the planning system.  This system creates an artificial divide in relation to applications for incinerators or new industry.  It is confusing to the general public and it confuses the procedure for dealing with the issue because one is making a very artificial distinction between planning and emissions.  People find it hard to understand that one deals with the Environmental Protection Agency in respect of one aspect of the application and with the relevant local authority in regard to the other.  I am not sure this is the best way to proceed.

We also believe a separate appeal body should deal with integrated pollution control licences.  If one is unhappy with a local authority's decision on planning, one can take the matter up with An Bord Pleanála but if one is unhappy with an integrated pollution control licensing application, the only course of appeal is to the EPA.  That is not proper and does not provide an independent voice in adjudicating on the appeal issue.  I had hoped this matter would have been dealt with in the Bill.  It is not right that the body of appeal is the same one from which one seeks an application in the first instance. 

We also believe the Bill is fundamentally flawed in relation to our approach to incineration of waste.  The "burn baby burn" approach is not the right way to go for Ireland.  It threatens our agricultural and tourism industry.  In March this year, I spent a week in Switzerland studying its waste management systems.  I saw many incinerators and many enlightened approaches to waste management.  On the issue of incinerators, they had no monitoring for dioxins on several of the incinerators and admitted in relation to one incinerator that the waste input goes up in flames at least a dozen times a year resulting in their having to call out the local fire brigade.  I do not believe their approach to waste management represented the cutting edge of technology, nor, do I believe we should emulate a burn approach to our waste problems.

This Bill has much smoke and mirrors and has a slight whiff of sulphur in its approach to our waste problems.  Several months ago, the Green Party brought before this House a Bill which emphasised a zero waste approach to our waste management problems.  It is an idealistic and visionary approach but it is a realistic one.  It is based on what has been done in many cities and states in Australia, Canada and around the world.  We believe we can tackle waste by proposing zero waste in 15 years time.  In the interim, we should emphasise waste reduction, re-use and recycling and should have proper well-managed landfills for the waste created.  It is realistic to propose zero waste within a 15 to 20 year time frame and I believe well-managed, modern landfill is better than incineration.  The Minister is reducing democracy here in that people will be faced with high charges and will have their hands tied in relation to altering it.

The Green Party opposes this Bill.  The Minister is going for an end of pipe solution and should charge industry at source.  The consumer does not want to buy four apples covered in plastic with a polystyrene base.  They want to buy clean, fresh fruit.  Why does the Minister not tackle industry and ensure that waste is tackled at source instead of passing the cost on to consumers?  My colleague referred to the fact that waste charges may rise to €600 per annum.  That is a draconian measure.  To insist that waste is collected and that councillors will have no input into policy is not the way forward.  The Green Party advocates a zero waste solution and has put its legislation to the House.  We are disturbed that the Minister has not put a similar and sustainable solution before the people.