Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The article goes on:

but experts have assured Waterford Whispers Newsthat given time, the Government will perform enough u-turns and contradictions to sufficiently rile up interest and anger. "Right now you might say ‘oh I’m not bothered by it’, but ... I guarantee you, you will be more annoyed by this stuff than you thought would be humanly possible" [The more the Government go on].

While that is actually funny, it is not funny that people are at home who are worried sick about situation. The platitudes from the Minister tonight that everything is going to be okay only mounts to a kicking of the can down the road. In reality we are not any the wiser about what is going to happen because the Government is ignoring the elephant in the room - or the herd of elephants - which is that the situation does nothing to address the massive, underlying, systemic problems with a privatised waste system. One cannot rely on the goodwill of a bunch of bin companies, many of whom are based offshore, to set prices for consumers or conditions for workers. That square cannot be circled.

As a result of the privatisation of our system we have bin lorries trundling up and down the streets most days of the week. In some areas it is one company and in other areas companies are threatening to withdraw. We have escalating charges and huge price variations, with companies like Panda and Greyhound centred offshore, brutal wage suppression, illegal dumping and so on. Last year an investigation was promised into this situation on the back of the Greyhound dispute but ti did not materialise. An investigation is overdue. The behaviour of the waste industry would put the Sopranos to shame. It is an outrage and it needs to be investigated properly. The only solution is for waste collection to be restored to the local authorities as a public service rather than a commodity to be profited from. There is no other way.

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