Northern Ireland's Department of Environment has been lambasted by a House of Commons watchdog for its "poor leadership" in the waste management arena.

MPs on the Committee of Public Accounts called the Department's performance "woeful" when it came to adopting European waste regulations.

The Department’s new Waste Management Strategy, due this month, will have to bite a lot harder than its predecessor.
- Edward Leigh MP In a report published today, the Committee claimed the UK now faced potential fines of £400,000 for every day in which Northern Ireland delayed its introduction of EU Directives on waste management.

The DoE was also criticised for the "limitation" of its six-year-old Waste Management Strategy, particularly in the quality of data used in developing, monitoring and reporting the strategy as well as targets that were "not sufficiently stretching". The Strategy is currently subject to a DoE review.

MPs also reserved some disapproval for the Department's handling of illegal waste activities and the related £24 million "black economy" in Northern Ireland.

Challenges
Speaking about his Committee's findings today, chairman Edward Leigh, Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: "Northern Ireland’s waste management performance ranks poorly against other parts of the UK and Europe, and the Department must raise its game if it is to meet the challenges of complying with EU targets.

"The Department’s new Waste Management Strategy, due this month, will have to bite a lot harder than its predecessor and needs to set more ambitious targets," the Gainsborough MP warned.

Criticism
The MPs' comments today are the latest in a string of criticism against the government's approach to waste management in Northern Ireland.

A cross-sector advisory group presented a damning verdict on the DoE's delivery of its Waste Management Strategy in June 2004, stating that satisfactory progress had been achieved in only 16 of the Strategy's 107 targets.

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Public Accounts Committee

And, since a budget review in December, the government has come under repeated fire for both reducing council waste funding and placing restrictions on its use within capital waste projects (see letsrecycle.com story).

The Department and councils spend in the region of between £90 million and £120 million on waste management each year in Northern Ireland. The Committee of MPs today asked for more details on "how new infrastructure that is expected to cost in the region of £270 million to £300 million, and other measures, will be funded".