ANOTHER REVIEW of national policy on climate change is under way with a view to charting “an ambitious but realistic way forward”, Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has said.
Speaking at the annual Environment Ireland conference in Dublin, he said: “Addressing the threat of climate change is a policy priority at national and EU level, and will remain so until an effective global response is in place.”
But his lengthy speech covering a wide range of environmental issues made no mention of climate change legislation to set new targets for Ireland. A spokesman said later that publication of a climate change Bill was “expected in 2012”.
By contrast, Northern Ireland Minister for the Environment Alex Attwood – who also addressed the conference – said he was finalising a climate change Bill based on Scotland’s, described as “world-class” by Oisín Coghlan of Friends of the Earth.
Mr Coghlan said he understood that the latest review of climate policy was an internal one being compiled by civil servants in the Department of the Environment, taking into account what Ireland was expected to achieve under EU policies and targets.
Mr Hogan and Mr Attwood jointly published a study of plastic waste on the island, which found that less than a third of the estimated 482,366 tonnes generated was collected for recycling – even though Irish manufacturers could use recycled plastics.
The plastics sector employs nearly 18,000 people with an annual turnover of about €2.9 million. The 250 firms involved have a demand for 465,381 tonnes of raw material – less than the total volume of waste arising – but currently need to import most of it.
Mr Hogan said that after years of waste policy reviews, “I intend to deliver decisions and provide certainty as to policy direction . . . No doubt some will be disappointed with the final decisions and others will be pleased. Such is the nature of all decision-making.”
However, he emphasised that these policy decisions “will be taken with the objectives of ensuring efficient and effective waste services for communities, businesses and householders and in the interests of improved environmental performance.
“They will not be made in the interests of any one business, project or sector,” the Minister said, in an oblique reference to claims by the Irish Waste Management Association that he was seeking to direct municipal waste to the proposed Poolbeg incinerator in Dublin.
He said a review of producer responsibility schemes – such as Repak – “will be launched in the coming months” to enable his department to ensure that such initiatives produce the dual benefits of lowering costs for business while increasing compliance levels overall.
Dealing with water quality, he said an “independent assessment” of the transfer of responsibility for water services from the local authorities to a national water utility – due next month – would allow the Government to “take the necessary decisions in this area”.
A “renewed strategy” to achieve sustainable development “in the coming weeks” would propose integrating this goal into key areas of policy by putting in place “effective implementation mechanisms and deliver concrete measures” to achieve it in Ireland, Mr Hogan said.
Dara Lynott, acting director-general of the Environmental Protection Agency, which hosted the conference, said a new guidance document on how best to deal with land contaminated by heavy metals and other pollutants would be published “in the next week or so”.
The agency has been without a director-general since last July, when Dr Mary Kelly departed following her appointment by the Government as chairwoman of An Bord Pleanála.
A successor is expected to be appointed shortly.
