Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We understand that and we all understand there may be a higher level of unemployment in the client base than is the case in the private mortgage sector. We understand that and, as public representatives, we all deal with it every day.

The Central Bank criticised seven financial institutions yesterday for continuing to take other actions against people, even when arrangements were in place. If the Central Bank was to examine the local authority system, it would probably find a much worse situation. The standard practice in local authorities when they have a restructuring agreement in place is to keep the court case live and to keep adjourning it, just in case the client slips behind in payments. If they put an agreement in place and withdraw court proceedings but the client falls behind in payments, the process involved in bringing the case back to court can be long drawn out. I would just make the observation that it is not just private sector operators who are continuing to take other actions against people. It seems to be standard practice and perhaps for good reason, in the interests of the taxpayer.

Mr. McCarthy made reference to a financial report from the local government auditor. When will we see the first report from the aforementioned national oversight and audit commission? I ask Mr. McCarthy to send on copies of the last report he referred to. I note that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report states that the collation of local authority expenditure outturns for 2013 were not finalised at the time he wrote his report. If they have been finalised since, I ask that they be sent on to the committee.

On commercial rates, I accept that the nominal rates have not been increased by most local authorities and there may even have been a decrease in one or two cases. That said, in 2013 commercial rates represented 34% of income for local authorities, rising to 36% in 2014 and is projected to reach 38% this year. While that is probably a reflection of other income going down, I ask the Department to give us a ten year figure for commercial rates as a percentage of total local authority income. The data for the three years to which I have referred show a shocking increase. We all talk about helping small businesses but when we look at the stark facts, we see that the percentage of local authority income coming from commercial rates is increasing year on year.

On the issue of waste, we now have three regions in the country. Submissions were completed at the end of January and we are meeting our target of 45% recycling, which is good, and landfill of 39%. However, I received a document last night called The State of Ireland 2015, A Review of Infrastructure in Ireland by Engineers Ireland. It goes through various infrastructure in Ireland, including communications, transport, waste management and so forth and grades it. On waste management the report states that "the management of waste in Ireland is being kept in equilibrium by the exporting of black bin waste". The authors go on to argue:

the current trend of exporting residual municipal (and hazardous) wastes for treatment to waste-to-energy, incineration and cement kilns in other European member states reflects the State’s inability to date to adequately manage its own residual wastes. The export solution is providing short-term gains, in terms of diverting waste from landfill

That is possibly why we are meeting our landfill targets; we are putting the waste on ships. It is a dishonest approach to say we are great because we have reduced the amount of waste that is going to landfill when we are just putting our waste in landfill sites in other countries. We are exporting our waste but, as a country, we should be able to deal with our own waste. I am sure the witnesses will tell us that there are some waste recovery projects due to come on stream.

I ask the witnesses to provide figures on the amount, in kilos, of waste produced by the average household here. My biggest issue is that despite the statistics we have on what is going to landfill, what is being recycled and so forth, I suspect that up to 50% of households in the country are not involved in the official waste management system at all. I know that where I live, for example, there was a time when everyone used to be able to afford a bin. Now a wheelie bin costs €360 per year, which is phenomenal and I can understand why householders do not bother any more. They throw their waste in the back garden, on the side of the road or dump it anywhere they can. The biggest issue and the elephant in the room, which is never captured by our statistics, is the amount of waste that is not coming into the official waste management system at all. It is lovely to talk about what is in the system but I am far more concerned about what is not in the system and is being buried in drains, ditches and bogs. The main reason is that the cost is prohibitive. If a wheelie bin was affordable, we would have a massive uptake but it is not affordable for many people. It is also almost immoral that we are dumping our landfill waste in China, England, the Netherlands and elsewhere. That is not a good idea. I ask the witnesses to address those points before we deal with the Northern Ireland transshipment issue.