Written Answers. - Parliamentary Debates - Houses of the Oireachtas

Questions— 14 February 2012. Written Answers
Under the Act, it is a function of a local authority to collect non-principal private residence
charges and late payment fees due to it, and all charges and late payment fees imposed and
payable to a local authority are under the care and management of the local authority concerned.
In this regard, application of the legislation in particular circumstances is a matter for
the relevant local authority. Interpretation of the legislation is a matter for legal advice in
individual cases and ultimately a matter for the Courts.
My Department is currently engaged with the City and County Managers’ Association in the
development of guidelines for local authorities in relation to the operation of the “care and
management” provisions of the legislation. In particular, this guidance will deal with situations
where significant arrears of non-principal private residence charges and late payment fees have
arisen and where a person can demonstrate genuine hardship in having to discharge their
liability in a single payment. In such cases, the guidelines will set out the modalities for local
authorities, exercising their functions under the care and management provisions, including
where payment of the outstanding liability in a single payment would result in hardship,
entering into payment arrangements for the discharge of outstanding liabilities in instalments
over a specified period.
Waste Management
419. Deputy John Deasy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local
Government the plans if any he has to bring in a deposit on all aluminium cans to discourage
littering of these items throughout the countryside; if he has any future plans to improve
recycling systems in relation to our manufacturing and the end of life use of all non-biodegradable
items; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7621/12]
Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government (Deputy Phil Hogan):
Directive 94/62/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on packaging and packaging
waste (the Packaging Directive) classifies items such as aluminium cans as packaging. The
Packaging Directive is based on the concept of producer responsibility, which effectively
requires producers to contribute to the waste management costs of products which they have
placed on the market. Under the Directive, Ireland’s requirement to achieve a 60% recovery
rate for packaging waste in 2011 had already been exceeded by 2009, when a recovery rate of
70% was achieved. The material-specific recycling targets of 60% for glass and 50% for metals
had also been achieved by 2009, with recycling rates of 76% and 50%, respectively, recorded.
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to drive a waste reduction programme
as part of the overall approach to sustainable waste management. A levy on packaging is one
of the possible elements of this waste reduction strategy. A period of initial public consultation
on a possible levy on packaging concluded in August 2011. The main issues examined in this
consultation included:
• The overall views of stakeholders on a packaging levy;
• How a packaging levy might operate;
• International experiences of similar levies; and
• How a possible packaging levy might be structured to best contribute to a reduction
in packaging waste.
Following on from this consultation, I intend to commence a full review of the Producer
Responsibility Initiative (PRI) model in Ireland in 2012, which will include a review of the
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