Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour)

I do not intend to go over the arguments I made on Committee Stage. I still firmly believe that section 7 should have stayed in the Bill. It has now been removed but that will prove to be a mistake.

I welcome the amendments and the spirit in which they have been tabled. We need to shine a bright light on the contracts done between Dublin City Council and Covanta. It is unfortunate that the former Minister, Mr. Dick Roche, approved it and signed those documents. The matter has not been dealt with adequately until now.

My constituency has had one of the largest landfills in the city on Sandymount Strand. We went through that period, but the solution to our waste problems is not necessarily to be found through burning it or using landfill sites. The Minister should give a clear commitment to impose a levy on waste and excess packaging at source. He should seriously examine the possibility of introducing a Bill to achieve that as quickly as possible.

If there is no levy on incineration, we will shift the focus from landfill to incineration and will draw down other recyclable materials to incineration. I welcomed the Minister's remarks on Committee Stage when he said he would quickly introduce a consultative document to examine a mechanism to rebalance the issue and possibly bring levies to bear on incineration. I look forward to that consultation process and will contribute to it at that stage.

As other Deputies have said, one of the biggest problems with an incinerator on the Poolbeg peninsula is that it will be too big. It is also broadly accepted that it is the wrong location. We need to fundamentally reform local government, giving power to elected councillors rather than officials. The 52 councillors on Dublin City Council, of which I was one, always opposed the incinerator but we could never see the contract or the Hennessy report in full. We must examine mechanisms whereby public representatives can review such contracts properly and see completed reports. In his review, I ask the Minister to move that power back to local government.

I notice that Deputy Finian McGrath left the Chamber after making his contribution. He quoted many sources, but I would remind him that he kept the two previous governments in power. If it was such a big problem for him, he could have made it an issue at any stage. However, I note that Deputy Finian McGrath prefers to make his contributions and then run, so as not to hear a counter argument.

The Minister should re-examine imposing a levy on incineration, in addition to introducing a levy on excess packaging as quickly as possible. That is the way to reduce the volume that must go either to landfill or incineration.

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