Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

——Cork County Council grants a waiver to 6,000 households, of which approximately half are in receipt of State pensions and the other half are in receipt of other social welfare payments. Impressively, Fingal County Council grants a waiver to 8,000 households, 2,000 of which are in receipt of State pensions and the rest of which include widows, job-seekers, one parent families, people on disability allowance and other social welfare payments. If half the local authorities in the country can do it, there is no reason the other local authorities cannot do it. Some of the local authorities doing it are not necessarily the better off ones, but they are stretching themselves and prioritising people on welfare which is what they should do.

When we came to look at this, I was faced with the conclusion that any national scheme worth its salt which I might create would cost at least €50 million. If I was to go down that road, I would be paying most of that sum back to the local authorities because half of them would almost give up what they are currently doing. If I had that kind of money, I would imagine half of it would go straight towards taking the pressure off the local authorities. The Deputies might say it is all public money anyway but if half the local authorities in the country can do it, the other half should also do it.

I do not understand why the local authorities do not make a waiver scheme a condition of contract. It is not enough for some local authorities to shrug their shoulders and say that they have privatised waste collection and it is none of their business any more. Everyone knows that when giving out a contract one is in a powerful position and the people who bid for the contract who give the best deal on waivers should get brownie points in the assessment of the tenders.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, knows my views on this area and I will do what I can to ensure the rest of the local authorities deliver. It is not fair that many people on welfare in one part of the country are entitled to waivers and others are not. I find that trying to fill the gap is complicated, but I make these comments today deliberately and will continue to see how I can be helpful in this area. What is going on is just not satisfactory.

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