John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

Waste charges and waivers are recurring issues that have been raised in the context of social partnership. My Department has engaged with the Department of Social and Family Affairs to explore all of the issues involved. These discussions, unfortunately, did not identify a role for the social welfare system in providing income support for waste charges. However, there were further discussions with the County and City Managers' Association and I have asked the relevant local authorities to engage with commercial waste collectors with a view to agreeing on a schedule of payments — that is, a phased pay-as-you-go system — which would be preferable to a periodic lump sum payment. This will make use of a waste collection service for residual waste and will make it a more manageable option for households. That is where the discussions are going at the moment.

See this speech in context