Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We could spend the rest of the day debating what is not on any of those lists and the confusion that arises, but the point I am trying to get at is that we need to be a bit creative. I am not talking about the responsibilities of a local authority per sebut the attitude of the local community, particularly from the point of view of acting on a co-operative basis. Last year, a good community activist in Swords, where I live, Dean Mulligan, and I conducted a survey of approximately 2,000 households which were not impressed with the bin service and were sick of the different bin companies going up and down their roads. There was a desire by over 90% to buy in to a co-operative venture where they would run their own local service, just serving their estate with their own local labour, which they would control on a co-operative basis. In this area of climate change, with our emissions targets and the number of trucks on the roads, not to mention cost and value, surely that is something which the Minister's Department could play a role in, not necessarily subsidising it but stepping in and giving some form of direction and assistance.

From a climate change point of view, not to mind waste management, starting and keeping it local is best for the environment, the consumer and also potentially workers.

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