Co. Cork’s ‘Wild Waste’ slated in TV exposé
“WE HAVE NO CONCERNS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT ENFORCEMENT IN CORK’
A SENIOR Cork County Council official has reacted to an RTÉ Investigates report that ranked the authority as one of the lowest of 30 analysed for regulating and enforcing waste services per number of waste permits held.
Aired last Monday night, ‘Ireland’s Wild Waste’ went undercover to investigate the problem of illegal dumping and how councils regulate and prosecute waste offenders. They highlighted how Cork County Council spent less than half the national average on waste services, and was ranked in the bottom five for non-routine inspections, staffing levels and enforcement actions.
The programme prompted one county councillor to say: “we do not come out of this in a very good light” - and drew a robust defence from a senior council official this week.
A SENIOR Cork County Council official has reacted to an RTE Investigates report that ranked the authority as one of the lowest of 30 analysed for regulating and enforcing waste services per number of waste permits held.
Aired last Monday night, ‘Ireland’s Wild Waste’ went undercover to investigate the problem of illegal dumping and how councils regulate and prosecute waste offenders.
While the documentary did not specifically go into Cork’s record on the issue, an accompanying press release ranked Cork County Council 27th of the 30 analysed in terms of regulating and enforcing waste services per number of waste permits.
It maintained that between 2015 and 2016 Cork County Council spent €8.78 per person on waste services, almost half the national average of €17.22.
The release said that Cork County Council had some of the lowest waste staffing levels in the country and was ranked in the bottom five for non-routine inspections, staffing levels and enforcement actions.
The findings were raised at the council’s northern area meeting on Monday, prior to the screening of the documentary, by Cllr Kay Dawson (FG). She called on the director of the council’s environment directorate, Louis Duffy, to clarify the authority’s stance on waste management, saying that “we do not come out of this in a very good light.”
“We need to show our zero tolerance attitude to illegal dumping and highlight the services we operate on this issue,” she said.
In reply, Mr Duffy said that at no stage did RTÉ approach Cork County Council requesting any information on its waste management structures.
He said it was “somewhat disappointing that they see spending money as being an achievement,” pointing out that the authority was the first in Ireland to set up a dedicated waste enforcement team under his direction 12 years ago.
“I think what we have established in Cork is a culture that understands illegal, unauthorised activity is not acceptable and will be dealt with,” said Mr Duffy.
He said the focus of the RTÉ programme was very much on permitted sites and these had been “very strictly and properly authorised” in Cork, meaning they are not allowed to operate until permits are in place.
“Secondly, the permits are renewed on a regular basis, and this is dealt with as rigorously as if it were a new application. Statistics on the management of these were not accounted for in their enforcement information.”
Mr Duffy was keen to point out that all permitted sites were risk-assessed by council staff, so they know which ones needed to be inspected on an annual or more frequent basis and which ones could be dealt with by a review of annual environmental returns.
He went on to say that Council officials had yet to find the source of the information in relation to Cork used by the RTÉ Investigates team and that an online search of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other records did not match up with their own.
“So, we are saying there may be inaccuracies and the use of the statistics they are quoting may be an inappropriate comparison.”
Mr Duffy said there was a “good understanding” among people operating waste management businesses in Cork that the sector was well regulated – even if cases do not end up in the courts.
“That said, we have gone as far as the High Court on numerous occasions and to the Supreme Court on a number of other occasions. We have been successful in all of those and we are now starting the enforcement of the landfill levy in respect of unauthorised sites,” he said.
Mr Duffy referenced one particular instance where a multi-million euro bill for unauthorised waste had gone through the courts in recent months and is at the stage where a bill is being issued to the offender.
“We have no concerns about the quality of waste management enforcement in Cork, but it may not show that on the statistics,” said Mr Duffy.
Cllr Dawson, who sits on the council’s Environmental Strategic Committee, said Mr Duffy had supplied the kind of clarity on Cork County Council’s waste management strategies that she and other colleagues were seeking.
She said the optics of the RTÉ investigation did not make Cork County Council “look great” in terms of its waste management regime.
“However, anyone can pull a statistic on anything and show it to be good or bad depending on where they start from. To prevent us being seen in a bad light we need to tell our story better. They have not given us this opportunity but it is something that we clearly need to do as a local authority,” said Cllr Dawson.