Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, was adamant that there would be a reduction for 87% of households. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has not commented on that one way or the other. The bin companies are saying it is a mathematical impossibility. The Taoiseach was in the previous Government with Deputy Kelly. Surely they discussed it and were all convinced it would bring down waste charges. The opposite has happened and the bin charges have gone way up. Deputy Kelly said the Government was caught hopping. I am trying to find out in between the two how the Government was caught hopping. Perhaps Deputy Kelly might illustrate to us in greater detail how something he introduced apparently caught everybody hopping. It caught the companies, householders and the Government hopping.

In a more serious vein, and I am serious about that one, will the Taoiseach initiate a comprehensive review of the industry because there is a lack of competition in certain places and there is a complete absence of transparency on the part of some companies in respect of their charging? Some companies are saying that the pay-by-weight system will encourage cross-contamination of waste and will interfere with and undermine the recyclable material and product that emerges from the system at the moment. Many issues have emanated from this ill-thought-out and poorly implemented statutory instrument, which seems to have been used by some companies, which engaged in below-cost selling to get into the market and to get a significant share, to raise charges excessively and use the pay-by-weight system as a camouflage to do that.

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