Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

I repeat, there was so much wisdom in the contribution of the then Minister, Dick Spring, who was a good friend of Deputy Sherlock's at the time, that his wisdom was returned to 13 years later by yet another Labour Party Minister for the Environment, Deputy Howlin. In his programme, Better Local Government — A Programme for Change, the then Minister, Deputy Howlin, recognised the commendable clarity that locally determined charges for domestic refuse collection were "an appropriate instrument in waste management policy".

The waste management policies in place today are directly built on the policies foreseen in the policy document, Better Local Government — A Programme for Change, by the then Minister, Deputy Howlin. More importantly, that provided the basic foundation on which the Waste Management Act 1996 was steered through the Houses of the Oireachtas by none other than the then Minister, Deputy Howlin.

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