To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what co-operation there has been with the Irish Government on tackling the problem of cross-border illegal dumping. (131023)

Bilateral meetings have been held at ministerial level to discuss matters of mutual interest and the illegal movement of waste has been identified as a key area of concern.

Officials from the Department of the Environment are working closely with counterparts in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (DOEHLG) to finalise a structured plan to deal with existing illegal waste dumped in Northern Ireland originating from Ireland and to prevent possible future illegal waste movements. The plan envisages co-operative operations involving enforcement authorities and, where appropriate, repatriation of waste from Ireland illegally dumped in Northern Ireland.

Officers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have attended Northern Ireland operations in which waste from Ireland has been identified. Officers from DOE have also been witnesses in EPA prosecution cases heard in Irish courts.

In January 2007, the Environment and Heritage Service, in conjunction with counterparts from the EPA, supervised the return of illegally deposited waste to Ireland from an illegal landfill in Co. Armagh, where an estimated 150 tonnes of commercial/household waste had been deposited.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many reports of fly-tipping were received by the Environment and Heritage Service in (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. (130558)

The Environment and Heritage Service (EHS) holds details of alleged illegal or unauthorised waste activities. It does not have figures for fly-tipping, which, although not legally defined, has in the past been used to describe largely domestic, low- quantity incidents. Such small-scale cases are generally dealt with by district councils.

The EHS is currently implementing the Flycapture software used by the Environment Agency to facilitate a consistent approach to the impact of fly-tipping across the UK, and is liaising with councils to encourage their use of the system. Flycapture records all incidents of illegal dumping, from a single black bin liner up to sites with thousands of tonnes of waste. This will allow the problem to be quantified, and enforcement, clean-up activities and budgets to be directed to areas of greatest need.

The EHS received the following number of allegations of illegal or unauthorised activities relating to controlled waste.