The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley T.D.has announced that agreement had been reached with Northern Ireland to repatriate waste which originated in the Republic but which was illegally disposed of in Northern Ireland in the early part of this decade.

The Minister said: “We are dealing with a legacy issue going back to a time when a great deal of illegal waste activity took place in both jurisdictions and we must now, given our responsibilities under EU waste shipments legislation, bring the waste back for proper disposal. “I welcome that significant progress has been made in dealing comprehensively with this issue. It shows that cross border cooperation between the relevant agencies in both jurisdictions is essential to the protection of our environment, and the pursuit of environmental crime.”

The framework agreement reached provides a template for dealing with this historical legacy issue and initially two sites will be dealt with involving some 14,000 tons of waste. The framework itself derives from a ‘road map’ agreed by both jurisdictions in relation to co-operation in dealing with illegal waste movements, both current and historical, which was endorsed by Ministers from both jurisdictions in October 2007 and by the EU Commision.

An initial estimate of costs for the first two sites is in the region of €3m for Ireland. More accurate figures will be available when the tendering process is completed. The NIEA estimates that up to 250,000 tonnes of municipal and commercial waste from Ireland was illegally deposited at 20 sites in Northern Ireland between October 2002 and the end of 2004.

Under the agreement the costs of disposing of the waste will be met by the Irish Government together with 80 percent of the costs of removing the waste from Northern Ireland. The Minister thanked the Northern Ireland authorities for agreeing to make a contribution to the removal costs.

The Minister said that the agreement, building on the road map, underpinned the high level of co-operation between Ireland and Northern Ireland in dealing with illegal activity and ensuring the implementation of the ‘polluter pays’ principle and bringing to justice those who caused the illegal deposition.

The Minister added: “We intend that the initial sites will be dealt with as quickly as possible and we hope the excavations will provide further evidence to help us pursue those responsible for this environmental crime. Local authorities, the EPA and the Garda continue to work closely together on bringing those responsible for this to account. I am confident these investigations will lead to successful prosecutions. In addition, enforcement staff from both jurisdictions are working closely together to enhance capacity to deal with any future attempted Cross Border illegal movement of waste.”

Quelle: Ministry for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

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