Mr. Owen Keegan:

If I knew there would be a fundamental change in the organisation of the waste market and we were no longer going to be the major players, which is a relevant factor, I would not have pursued the project in the manner it was pursued. At the time, we had been in the waste business for over 100 years and there was an expectation that we would still be involved. We failed to anticipate the impact of the polluter pays principle and, once charges were introduced, it provided for a significant opening up. That was not anticipated and, had I known it would happen, we would not have gone about the project in the same way. If we were not going to do the collection, we would have hoped the private sector, as it was providing the service, would take on the responsibility of providing for collection facilities. At the time the project was conceived, we were major players and we had a statutory responsibility to provide the facilities. There was an expectation on the Government side that the local authority would provide it.