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Waste (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2007

I, too, thank the Minister for delivering the order to us. The majority of the provisions replicate those in the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. As we heard graphically from the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, who has a great deal of experience in this area, organised gangs are making very large profits on the movement of illegal waste. The environment must get damaged if waste disposal is not properly regulated, and the costs to clean up those unregulated areas are very significant. The draft order provides much stronger powers for enforcement officers and additional powers for the courts to impose wider-ranging and more significant pecuniary penalties to combat and deter illegal waste activity. I was pleased to see that consultation on the proposals has been undertaken, the main responders being district councils. Their main concerns were that the proposals were focused far too narrowly—the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, made this point—on the powers of the department to deal with waste management and disposal activities. They did not provide a greater role for district councils to become involved in this important area. I am pleased that the Government have recognised that and propose to engage further with district councils on the possibility of enhancing their powers. In Articles 3 to 9 on the disposal and depositing of waste, I hope that guidance will be given on how the powers of those dealing with such incidents will be undertaken. There will be a need to understand proportionality in dealing with possible offenders, especially as the powers now being given to the people who will police these incidents will be greatly enhanced. Will the Minister explain the term ““authorised officer””? We have a definition in Article 9(11), which states: "““In this Article [5E] and Article 5F … ‘authorised officer’ means an officer of the Department who is authorised in writing by the Department for the purposes of this Article””." The authorised officer will work alongside, or with, the police. I am concerned about the level and quality of such officers. They will need training. They will have quasi police powers if they are not with a police officer, so that is important. Will the Minister say what discussions there have been with the Republic of Ireland on these measures? It is extremely important that dialogue between the north and the south is clear so that both sides understand the difficulties that each has with the importation and exportation of illegal waste. We on these Benches also welcome the proposals in the main, and hope that the situation on illegal waste tipping is brought to a rapid end.