Marie Sherlock (Labour)
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I thank the committee for hosting this hearing today because for many of us here, it is a huge issue in our communities, and a huge issue for the workers within waste collection companies themselves. I know that after housing and policing, I think waste is the third biggest issue raised on the doorsteps in our communities. Waste is a public service that is effectively being delivered by private operators and we have a dysfunctional system whereby bins are collected by private companies, creaming profits from households and local authorities are effectively left to clean up the mess in terms of illegal dumping, while also providing free services. There is no incentive for investment in the overall strategy that Councillor Doolan talked about with regard to waste management.

I have three questions. First, with regard to working conditions in the bin collection companies, post-pandemic there was a lot said about front-line workers and we know bin collection workers had to go out week in, week out, while many of us got to stay at home. Of course our bins got more full because we were all at home. I want to understand what has happened to wages since 2020, and Mr. Gleason might be able to talk to this. The owner of Panda and Greenstar, Beaupark Utilities saw its profits rise by almost 24% in 2020, up to nearly €35 million. How much have wages changed during that period of time, and in particular during those pandemic years where we would assume volumes of waste increased substantially from households?