Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as ucht an deis chun labhairt ar an topic fíor-thábhachtach seo.

Sinn Féin initially opposed the introduction of bin charges by the then Fianna Fáil Government. We foresaw that the privatisation of waste collection would result in increases in prices for ordinary families and we were right. Fianna Fáil could not be trusted then and it certainly cannot be trusted now, on this issue or on many, many more.

Citizens are being hit with the prospect of yet another steep rise in an essential household bill - a basic necessity. There are no meaningful waiver or alleviation measures within the new charging scheme to provide relief for low-income households which will find it difficult to meet the increased charges. The provision of an annual sum of €75 for persons with lifelong or long-term medical incontinence is little more than an insult and woefully inadequate.

These proposed changes give too much leeway to private companies and less to the consumer. Waste collection, in general, is poorly regulated and we have seen the rise in illegal dumping in recent years. Clearly, Government policy in this area has failed miserably.

Sinn Féin believes that these proposals should be scrapped. They do nothing for the environment. This system does nothing to reduce the amount of waste being produced in the first instance.

We need to look at taking waste collection back into public ownership, introducing policies to reduce packaging and providing waiver schemes to low-income households so that costs do not become a barrier to responsible waste management. This would be a much better and fairer way forward and I call on all Deputies to support our amendment to the motion.

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