Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As regards the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission statement, I note that the office is undertaking a study of the household waste collection market in Ireland. That is very necessary and I am glad to hear it will happen. Will it examine the wages and working conditions of employees in that industry? I do not have much experience of rural collections but in the greater Dublin area the industry seems to be in a race to the bottom in terms of working conditions for employees. One can also discern that many immigrant workers are employed in the sector in the greater Dublin area and I am very concerned as to how well advised of their employment rights they are.

The witnesses are probably aware that it can be very difficult for fire services and emergency vehicles to access some streets in Dublin because three vehicles may be heading in the same direction at the same time. Complaints in that regard have been made in city and county council areas. The study should investigate whether it would be possible to recommend a bidding system such that one company would win a tender from the county council for waste collection on narrow urban or suburban streets. I appreciate that is a tender issue but some of the current practice is very dangerous, in particular in areas with many elderly people and in which ambulances and similar vehicles cannot get through. I am glad the study is to be undertaken.

Will it also examine pricing and pricing packages? The amount of information and arbitrariness of price changes is very difficult for many consumers, in particular pensioners, for whom waste charges take up a relatively large amount of a limited pension. I have been told, and think evidence was given to another committee or Deputies in this regard, that brown bin services are not being utilised, possibly because it is easier to burn everything since the advent of the incinerator. However, that is causing a difficulty for compost businesses, in particular in rural Ireland, which are very unsure about the future of their market. What is the timeline for the study?