Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This morning I listened to Deputy Paul Murphy on local radio and wish to quote what he said about the motion. He stated: "We have thought it through, but it is not our full position." We are once more debating a motion brought before the House which is little more than a political stunt. It sums up everything about the anti-austerity movement and Sinn Féin that protest for the sake of protesting and try to scaremonger at every opportunity. I ask Deputy Paul Murphy and his colleagues what their full position is and if, in fact, it is the case that they have thought it through fully. Does the Deputy have any real alternative that would work or is he and his party simply capable of taking a populist view on every issue that arises? He also suggested this morning that the councils should be in charge of waste collection and that there should be no charge to the customer. From where does he think the councils get their funding?

To return to the real issue of domestic waste charges, I have been contacted by many local people about the new pricing modules. The simple truth is that in County Louth - Dundalk, in particular - we have no information on what the charges will be, which in itself is causing great confusion and fear. I urge all waste collection providers to immediately publish details of their pay-by-weight charges in an open and transparent manner. The lack of information is causing unnecessary stress and worry for many and must not continue.

The principle that those who pollute most pay should the most is one with which I wholeheartedly agree. I also agree fully with the principle that those who carefully recycle their waste must be rewarded. There is no doubt that the current system under which a fixed amount is paid each month does not encourage those who seek to actively recycle and reduce their waste. For that reason, I agree with the introduction of a pay-by-weight system and the decision not to impose charges for green bin collections. However, I do not agree with the original decision to impose a minimum charge. That was a wrong decision and only allowed waste companies to take advantage of the new regulations. I have said previously that we should impose a maximum or capped charge to be imposed by waste companies. With such a system we could then allow market forces to take hold and, as in every other industry, companies would compete with each other for market share.

I ask the Minister to reconsider service charges. It is not fair to impose service charges that do not take into account situations in which households would only use the bin collection service on rare occasions. For openness and transparency, the price per kilogram charged for black and brown bins should include all charges. One need only look at other industries such as, for example, the mobile phone market, where a large proportion of users go for the pay-as-you-go option and there is no additional charge over and above the cost of the top-up credit.

To conclude, I fully support the concept of pay-by-weight for waste collection but would like to see a proper pay-as-you-use system implemented with no additional service charges. I also do not agree with suspending the introduction of the new charging system. What will that achieve? What Members need to do is to implement legislation that allows for the proper introduction of pay-by-weight and pay-as-you-use waste collection services.

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