Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last January the then Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, at the stroke of a ministerial pen, introduced Statutory Instrument No. 24. He said at the time that this would mean that 90% of families and households would pay less to have their bin collected. Roll on a number of months and the truth emerges, with great panic, as the Tánaiste has acknowledged. It now transpires that up to 90% of families and households will, in fact, pay substantially more.

Let us look at some cases. Elaine is a mother of three children, has a chronically ill husband and is in receipt of carer's allowance. The cost of her bin collection service is increasing from €204 to €360 per year, a 76% increase. They cannot afford this. Marie is in her 80s, lives alone and is in receipt of the State pension. Her standing charge is being increased from €50 to €169 per year, an increase of 238%. She has told me money is so tight that she will have no choice but to either go without food or burn her rubbish illegally. Is there not something obscene about this for a senior citizen in 2016? As it happens, Marie is a constituent of the Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste said the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, would meet the providers and that he would put it up to them. I have to tell her that that does not inspire much confidence. What the Minister needs to do is to reverse this bad decision. The regulation was introduced at the stroke of a ministerial pen and could be removed at the stroke of a ministerial pen.

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