The Department of the Environment has said yesterday's finding by the EU Advocate General that Ireland failed to comply with EU laws on waste disposal related to "past behaviour" during the period 1997 to 2000. Tim O'Brien reports.
The Department said the situation had now been transformed with new legislation, the creation of an office of environmental enforcement and strict policing of waste-management regulations.
However, Friends of the Irish Environment (FIE) has disagreed with the Department, claiming that many of the practices criticised by the Advocate General are still taking place.
The European Commission, which took the action against Ireland, had identified 12 breaches of the Waste Directive, which governs the recovery and disposal of waste, between 1997 and 2000.
They include the dumping of construction waste on wetlands without a permit by Limerick Corporation, the unauthorised storage of large amounts of organic waste near Fermoy, Co Cork, and unauthorised dumping of rubble at Poolbeg Peninsula, Co Dublin.
Commenting on the advocate's finding yesterday, a spokesman for the Minister said "no excuse for past behaviour" would be offered. But he pointed out that the period examined related to 1997-2000.
"What we are doing now is radically different. We have always said we were playing catch-up in relation to waste management, but since 2002 we have transformed the situation," he said.