Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I considered the figures in the report to which I referred and also did a survey to find out the variations in waste disposal charges around the country. There are major variations in the cost of waste charges, which raises issues of fairness.

My local council, South Dublin County Council, charges €8 per bin lift, and that is the only charge. There is no flat charge. Other councils have a yearly flat charge as well as charging per lift. For example, in the Offaly County Council area, where there is no waiver scheme, one can be charged between €360 and €384 per annum, depending on the size of the bin, plus €5 per lift. That is considerably more expensive than in South Dublin. According to the 2006 report — charges may have increased since that time — Galway County Council, which also has no waiver scheme, has yearly charges of between €320 and €373.

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