Gormley levies on waste to be scrapped

ENVIRONMENT legislation which will determine levies for waste going to landfill and incineration will be put before the Dáil by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan tomorrow.

The legislation will replace the Environment Bill which was published last January by the previous minister John Gormley, but was not passed into law before the government collapsed.

The Bill would have allowed for levies on landfill and incineration of up to €120 a tonne. The current landfill levy is €30 and there are no levies on incineration.

Mr Hogan yesterday confirmed that he would not be going ahead with Mr Gormley’s levies.

“I will be making changes in relation to the levies that will be put on landfill and incineration and I will be outlining principles in relation to waste policy.”

The levies proposed by Mr Gormley would have made the Poolbeg incinerator unviable. Mr Hogan would not say yesterday at what level he intended to set waste levies.

It had recently been reported by the Irish Independentthat Mr Hogan had ordered a new review of the contract for the controversial Poolbeg incinerator amid concerns that the taxpayer could be forced to pay fines if it is built. But the Minister yesterday said this was not the case and he had been misquoted.

“I will be reviewing waste policy. The Poolbeg incinerator is a matter for Dublin City Council and Covanta who have entered into a contractual obligation on these matters and it’s up to them to decide whether the project should proceed or not.”

A decision on the project’s future is due to be made next month.

Mr Hogan was speaking yesterday ahead of the launch of this year’s Tidy Towns competition.

To assist local authorities in improving the appearance of urban and rural areas grants totalling €350,000 have been made available to run a Civic Responsibility Week from May 9th to May 15th. The closing date for receipt of entries for this year’s competition is May 20th.