State faces heavy fines after waste breach ruling

IRELAND has seriously breached an EU directive on waste management, including controls on illegal dumping, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

The preliminary finding clears the way for heavy fines to be imposed on the Government by the Luxembourg-based court.

In an opinion delivered by Advocate General Leendert Geelhoed yesterday, the court declared Ireland to be in breach of five sections of the EU directive on waste. The ruling said Ireland had failed “over a protracted period of time” to establish an adequate and fully operational licensing system for waste disposal.

Although the preliminary finding has no formal binding on either party, it is seen as a reliable barometer for the decision of the full court which is due to be issued next year.

The case arose from a dozen individual complaints made by Irish citizens between 1997 and 2000 to the European Commission about the manner in which the State implemented and monitored waste disposal legislation.

The commission argued there had been a general and structural infringement of the waste directive by Ireland, including its failure to implement adequate deterrents against illegal dumping.

It claimed certain municipal waste sites continued to operate without a licence for more than 20 years after authorisation was required. In addition, it maintained there was a de facto tolerance by the authorities of unauthorised, private waste dumps in many locations around the country. The commission also claimed the Environmental Protection Agency had relied on national legislation to justify its own inaction on tackling illegal waste operations.

Lawyers for the Attorney General had counter-argued that the commission had not furnished any verifiable evidence to demonstrate the Government had failed to comply with its obligations under the waste directive. They rejected claims by the commission that inaction by State authorities on unauthorised waste operations had increased their potential harm to the environment and human health.

However, yesterday the court said the figures provided by the Government to demonstrate it had complied with its obligations were “not convincing”.

“The evidential material in the 12 complaints also illustrates that the problems of illegal waste operations were not confined to certain localities but that they were widespread in Irish territory,” Mr Geelhoed said. “They contain many examples of serious environmental pollution.”

The court rejected the commission’s claims that Ireland had not properly implemented rules for the authorisation of waste collectors and for monitoring records kept by waste operators. The Government was also ordered to pay the costs of the case as the core of the commission’s case against Ireland was upheld.