Options to deal with the waste crisis, including passing on EU-imposed fines worth millions of pounds to local authorities, are being considered by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey.
Speaking to The Irish Times, the Minister said that while he did not want to pre-empt the "present round of discussions" at local authority level, the outcome was already unsatisfactory. The Minister added he had in the past "been the strongest advocate of local decision-making" but would now have to look at his options, "no matter how reluctant I would normally be" to withdraw power from the elected members.
Without naming any local authorities, the Minister said some had "clearly gone for the Paul Daniels [magic] solution. They don't want to put the waste in landfill and they don't want to incinerate it, but they are not doing what they are supposed to do which is to find a solution to the problem".
Mr Dempsey said that in a number of cases he was aware of "politics being played" with Opposition parties voting down waste management plans at county council level. Referring to the seven regional waste management plans, Mr Dempsey said the blunt fact of waste management was that local authorities acting on their own do not have "the critical mass" to ensure the viability of either recycling, composting or thermal treatment.
While this critical mass was available in regional plans these also had largely fallen through the action of local pressure groups who did not want a regional solution. "They don't realise that in abandoning the economies of scale for thermal treatment the very same argument abandons the prospect of economic recycling too. "The situation is that the councils make the decisions, but their decisions, particularly in one case mentioned, are clearly nonsense," he said.
In relation to the prospect of hefty fines from the EU, the Minister said it was "no secret that the EU action has begun and may even be accelerated". The Minister said he did not want to elaborate greatly on the steps he might now take, as he did not want to unduly influence the remaining votes at council level. However, an examination of the Act reveals there are a number of avenues open to him. The 1996 Waste Management Act provides for the Minister to amend the Act to transfer the power to decide waste management plans to the council executive. Alternatively, he may order the local authorities to jointly adopt a waste management plan which provides the critical mass to be viable in terms of recycling and other measures. The Minister would also have the power, by reducing the rates support grant, to pass on fines imposed by the European Commission, to the local authorities.
The Minister is known to accept the European body of scientific and medical evidence which suggests incineration is an acceptable technology. He was particularly disappointed that members of local authorities who have all been afforded the opportunity to visit integrated waste management sites in Europe and professed themselves satisfied, proved unable to implement the same strategies at home. Asked if he was disappointed or frustrated at the lack of progress on the issue four years after the passing of the Act, the Minister said "you could put it stronger than that".
Also expressing disappointment last week was Mr P.J. Rudden of MC O'Sullivan, consultants on most of the regional waste management schemes. While he was keen to point out that 26 of the local authorities had adopted a waste management plan, he acknowledged that many differed from the regional plans the grouped local authorities had prepared.
Mr Rudden said the plans had been prepared on the best practice experience of our neighbours in Europe. This could be summed up as "maximise recycling, minimise landfill and incinerate or `thermally treat' the rest". This is also known as the "integrated" solution, and Mr Rudden pointed out that the European Union, which is cracking down on landfill sites has, after years of consideration, recently opted for it as the best way to deal with the burgeoning waste problem.