Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It seems to me, from a practical point of view rather than any ideological one, that the for-profit model of waste collection is not good for society.

We must also address the broader issue of rising waste costs because the side-by-side model is bad for workers, it seems to be bad for the environment with all the extra fly-tipping, and it is bad for customers because most of them must keep a certain amount of money on account and must deal with a service charge every month or every six months.

The result of the privatisation has been that 23% of households in the State do not have a waste collection. This is because many people either cannot afford to, or do not want to, pay for waste collection. Illegal dumping costs more than €100 million per year to the State. Costs continue to rise. We saw the largest provider, Panda, increase charges to more than 300,000 customers by way above the rate of inflation. The bin company is also raising its half-yearly service charge. This is the inevitable consequence of increased privatisation. It is inevitable that the State or local authorities will take over refuse collection. Again, it is only a matter of time.

See this speech in context