Madam, - Minister for the Environment Dick Roche says the new rules on illegal dumping "will require the removal of all but inert materials" (The Irish Times, May 3rd).
This must be a great relief to the builders whose spoil heaps - composed of material excavated to lay the foundations of thousands of new one-off houses in, for example, North Wexford - are increasingly disfiguring the rural landscape.
The dumping of construction and demolition waste in isolated sites without a permit, while posing only a limited environmental threat, creates monstrous eyesores in rural areas, where adjoining properties may be significantly devalued by the presence of these piles.
The implication in Mr Roche's policy direction that non-hazardous or "inert" may remain at illegal dump sites has, I suspect, been designed specifically to protect the construction industry.
Inert materials are, however, included in the definition of waste requiring a permit for disposal in the Waste Management Permit Regulations 1998 and contemporary amendments to the Planning Acts.
Planning permission is required for the disposal of "backfill" and "infill" should it be used to significantly change the topography of land or affect the surrounding environment.
The dumping of construction waste on wetlands without a permit by Limerick Corporation was part of the action against Ireland taken by the European Commission, which had identified 12 breaches of the directive governing the recovery and disposal of waste between 1997 and 2000. It is clear that the waste directive also applies to excavated subsoil.
The Waste Management Permit Regulations 1998 were framed to protect the environment and cut down on illegal dumping, particularly of construction and demolition waste. Mr Roche's failure to direct that illegally dumped spoil heaps be removed as well as household waste does nothing to respect the property rights of individual householders who live near land that has been covered with tons of rubble, clay and stone. - Yours, etc,
DEBRA JAMES, Cummerduff, Gorey, Co Wexford.