Roche insists Irish waste rules conform to EU standards
Environment Minister Dick Roche has insisted that Ireland's waste regulations have been brought into line with EU standards.
Mr Roche was responding to a judgement by the European Court of Justice today which found that Ireland had persistently breached a 1975 directive by failing to ensure that all municipal landfills had a proper permit.
The judgement, which came on foot of 12 complaints lodged between 1997 and 2000, also accused the Irish authorities of tolerating illegal dumping over long periods of time.
Despite Mr Roche's insistence that the problem had been rectified, Fine Gael MEP Avril Doyle said the ruling was a major embarrassment and the minister should hang his head in shame.
Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe, meanwhile, said it was further evidence of the Government's lax approach to implementing EU directives.
"I think it's crucial that the Government changes its ways," he said.
"It happened on this Government's watch, this Government could have taken action to change things, but it hasn't, so it's about time that this Government shaped up or shipped out."
