Co-operation between public bodies north and south of the Border is vital to stop the "big money" trade in illegal cross- Border waste dumping, Minister for the Environment Dick Roche has said.
Criminals had developed a hugely lucrative business in taking waste from the State and dumping it without a licence in Northern Ireland, he said.
Mr Roche was speaking at the Environment Ireland 2005 conference held by the Environmental Protection Agency in Dublin yesterday.
Much was being done to combat cross-Border dumping, he said. The EPA's Office for Environmental Enforcement and the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland had successfully worked together on the National Enforcement Network for Waste, he added.
