Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The spirit of the legislation was that by looking differently at how waste could be disposed of, the charges could be reduced. In other words, consumers or customers would have the option to examine carefully and think about how they would dispose of their waste in terms of green, brown and black bins and that on a pay-by-weight basis, charges could be reduced. Clearly, that was not what was going to happen here, which is why the Minister for housing, planning and local government met with all of the waste management companies and has agreed, with their support, a freeze for 12 months given the other issues that are there.

The fact that some waste disposal companies in a competitive sense decided to tout for commercial business by offering a below-cost service for waste disposal is a matter for themselves in terms of the competitive nature of the waste disposal industry. If they decided to provide a service at below cost, that is something they have to live with.

In respect of the structure, one could have a situation where one could tender for an area and the company that won that tender would then provide the service there. As the Deputy is knows, there is a very different system in many places. Some roads would have three or four companies supplying a bin collection service. The point raised by the Deputy that there should be an examination of the entire structure is a valid one and we can initiate it.

See this speech in context