There has been another demand for the Minister for the Environment to establish a national waste authority with powers to fast track planning procedures.
The Construction Industry Federation claims there is an absence of political leadership in dealing with the waste crisis and it will seriously affect business.
The ongoing discoveries of illegal dumping in Dublin, Wicklow, Galway and elsewhere has underlined the huge problem facing Ireland over managing our waste.
Part of the problem relates to the booming 1990s and an absence of recycling. A report published last year found that waste generation increased by 89% between 1995 and 1998.
Now, in 2002, old landfill sites are filling up quickly. With an absence of alternative sites, getting rid of waste is becoming more difficult. It is also due to become more expensive this year when the price per tonne goes up by around £10.
Against a background of criticism from the European Commission, one of the responses from the Government has been to shift powers relating to waste from elected members of local authorities to their managers.
Yet the problems persist and today the CIF described the current situation as a national crisis, which threatens both inward investment and existing business.
It pinned the blame on what it termed an absence of political leadership at local, regional and national level. The CIF's demand for a national waste authority with powers to fast track the planning process echoes a recommendation last month from Forfas, the industrial policy advisory board, and earlier appeals by the IDA.
The Minister for the Environment, Noel Dempsey, has not ruled out creating a body for waste management along the lines of the National Roads Authority.
However, he clearly has not been convinced that a national waste authority would overcome the immediate problems facing waste management. Despite the strong words from the CIF, it is highly unlikely that their demand for an authority is going to result in legislation being introduced before the next General Election.
