To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what recent estimate he has made of the cost to public funds in Northern Ireland of the disposal of toxic acid waste from illegal fuel-washing; and if he will make a statement. (91525)

The Environment and Heritage Service of the Department of the Environment has been advised by district councils that they had incurred approximately £115,000 in cleaning up toxic waste between 2003 and early 2006, a significant proportion of which arose from illegal fuel washing.

This clean-up work, and its associated cost, was largely confined to councils bordering the Republic of Ireland.