Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This move by the Government highlights how out of touch it is. As usual, Fianna Fáil is waiting in the wings to support its partners in government no matter what.

Fianna Fáil's motion does not block these new charges, but simply lets the Government off the hook. It amazes me that the Government has no hesitation in introducing measures that will result in increased bills for hard-pressed families but at the same time refuses to even consider increasing the minimum wage or tackling the spiralling cost of living for the same people. Did the Government consider people's ability to pay when it came up with this idea? Did it consider those who produced more rubbish due to their age, infirmity, family size or personal circumstances? I doubt it.

We have heard that the aim of this measure is to reduce the amount of waste. Financially penalising people will not achieve this. In fact, it will probably make the problem worse. Pay-by-weight or by lift will more than likely increase the level of illegal dumping — simply transferring the problem of waste in our landfills to illegally dumped rubbish in our lanes, countryside and bogs. This will have a heavy environmental and financial impact. I have seen this in my own city of Limerick.

Why not tackle companies using excess plastic packaging in their products? Why not introduce effective measures to tackle illegal dumping? Why not introduce a bottle return scheme or something similar? Why not think of innovative solutions? The Government's solution to most issues is to simply get citizens to pay more and hope for the best. It did not work with the water charges and it will not work for this.

Taking away refuse collection from local authorities was a huge mistake. In Limerick, waste collection is now a mess. When it was privatised by the then Labour Party Mayor, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, a bin waiver was devised for some of the poorest and most vulnerable citizens across the city. The scheme still exists but has been gutted by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael on Limerick council over the years. No doubt the same will happen with the Government's pathetic €75 grant.

The large number of waste companies does not result in good competition and low prices, but it means bins on every street almost every day of the week and bin lorries operating and making noise at all hours of the night with multiple operators on different days, often in the same small areas.

I am very much in favour of reducing the amount of rubbish we produce in Ireland but these punitive charges will not address the issue. They will increase illegal dumping and will create greater financial uncertainty. I urge the Minister to look at these proposals again.

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