182. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he has plans to force waste collection companies advertising online and by door to door flyers to provide their permit number in such advertisements; his views that verification online of such permits should be simplified by the National Waste Collection Permit Office; whether he agrees that improper use of a fake permit number should attract stiff penalties and that illegal waste collection impacts legitimate businesses, can damage the environment and cause avoidable expenditure by local authorities on clean ups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62437/26]

Waste collection permitting is a statutory function of local authorities under the Waste Management Act. The National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO) in Offaly County Council is the Nominated Authority responsible for the issuing of waste collection permits on behalf of all local authorities. The NWCPO has a publicly available search function to check if a collector holds a valid permit, available at www.nwcpo.ie/permitsearch.aspx.

It is an offence under Section 34 (1) of the Waste Management Act for a person other than a local authority to collect or transport waste save under and in accordance with a properly issued waste collection permit. Penalties for offences provided for under the Waste Management Act are substantial. Persons guilty of an offence under the Act are liable to fines of up to €5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months on summary conviction, and to a maximum fine of €15m and/or up to 10 years imprisonment on conviction on indictment.

Individual local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of waste legislation and waste collection permit conditions within their functional area and as such any concerns regarding waste collectors potentially operating without a valid waste collection permit should be addressed to the relevant local authority.

Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act the Minister is precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance, in specific cases, by a local authority of their statutory functions under the Act.