Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I support this simple, straightforward and humane Private Members' motion from the Labour Party.

The European Union directive published towards the end of 1996 was not acted on by the Government until 2000. The Government then panicked because it was going to fall victim to European Union criticism, so the directive was urgently implemented by all the local authorities countrywide. There was no national structure, guideline or model. Each local authority had to try to put together an individual structure in its own right. The local authorities, of which there are more than 40, came up with different models, costs, charges and methods of collection.

In my area, covered by Dublin City Council, I have never had a wheelie-bin. I have a plastic bag but cannot get a wheelie-bin whether I like it or not because I live more or less between the canals. Major sections of that area, particularly south of the North Circular Road, are not allowed wheelie-bins. What am I to do in those circumstances? What are people in those areas to do when they see a new charge imposed on them without any additional service? They do not view this as a particularly forward-looking approach to waste management.

At the same time as having this mishmash and hodgepodge of waste management charges and collections in every local authority, nothing was done by the Government to deal with the principle enunciated by the European Union, namely that the polluter pays. As we all know, the vast majority of waste comes from the industry sector. It comes from building rubble, from certain undesirable farming methods and from excessive manufacturing packaging. The Government has done nothing about that. I hope the Minister decides to impose the same type of penalties in this regard as on the compliant domestic householder.

As Deputy Gilmore outlined, Deputy Cullen, when Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, compounded the situation in 2003 by shifting not only the responsibility but also the right to levy a charge from the local elected representatives to the city manager. The operation of the full whack of the charges from January of this year has been an absolute mess. No proper preparation has taken place, particularly with regard to waivers. There were no waivers ready. An Post had not got them from the local authorities in order to send them out to those entitled to them. I spend half my time on the telephone contacting the waste management section of Dublin City Council to tell them that six weeks after the system has been put in place, certain people have not got the waivers to which they are entitled. The answer given is that those involved are trying to process matters. All the processing should have been done prior to the implementation of the schedules but it was not. I have been told that in many cases, certain pensioners, the unemployed or those on disability benefit will not get their waivers until April. In the meantime, they must go and purchase tags. One can only buy them in bunches of three rather than individually, and people are told they will not be refunded. Those people are entitled to a waiver in the first place because of the lack of preparation and the totally unorthodox way in which the whole system was put in place. The result is a great deal of illegal dumping in Dublin Central, my constituency and that of the Taoiseach. Tags are being stolen from plastic bags. People who are not putting their waste into bins are taking plastic bags and dumping them in an area where uplift is by plastic bag only. Great abuse of the system is taking place. Health and safety issues are not being dealt with, and of course, even the most compliant taxpayers and householders are extremely annoyed and angry with the manner in which the scheme has been implemented, with the result that there is support for anyone who does not wish to be compliant. A sense of grievance is abroad because of the total mismanagement of the system.

At least regarding waivers we should have some uniformity or national system whereby the most vulnerable, pensioners, the disabled, the unemployed and those at the lower end of the scale who are entitled to a fair crack of the whip get that. We must do it through a national scheme rather than willy-nilly, which seems to be the only way we are able to do business in this country. The Minister and Government should have examined the issue of incentives. Surely anyone in his or her right mind would start off not with a levy but with powerful recycling incentives. One does not start with a stick but with a carrot, but that has certainly not happened in this case.

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