Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)

The Dublin city task force and Dublin City Council recommended that a single waste management company should provide bin collection services, with a further recommendation that, in the long term, waste services should be taken under the control of Dublin City Council. This is positive and will be welcomed by householders across Dublin. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Climate Action made a similar recommendation. The wholesale privatisation of bin services in 2012, which was opposed every step of the way by Sinn Féin, has been a complete and utter disaster for Dublin. It has led to a wild west situation, where up to a dozen bin companies charge ever-increasing prices for a service that is not fit for purpose. Waste management companies are operating like a cartel. Will the Government's task force on Dublin tackle the privatisation of waste management and bring it back to public ownership?

See this speech in context