Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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3. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress of the investigation into the need for regulation in the waste management industry. [18466/15]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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This question relates to the progress of the investigation and the need for regulation across the board in the waste management industry, including maintenance of vehicles, the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, and the Labour Court.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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There are approximately 100 registered household kerbside waste collection companies operating in Ireland and there are approximately 3,000 waste collection permits currently extant. The industry employs almost 6,000 people directly while the indirect labour figure is less clear.

Given the number of companies competing for business in the household kerbside waste collection sector, the cost of service delivery is a deciding factor in winning customers and forms part of the differentiation in terms of competing on cost to the customer. As in the case of many other service provision sectors characterised by internal competition, wage costs are an important component of overall costs. Consequently service providers who can reduce their wage costs obtain an initial competitive advantage over others. It appears that for the majority of operators in the household kerbside waste collection sector many pay rates are at, or slightly above, the national minimum wage.

Mindful that the need for proper compliance with legislation is in the workers' and the wider public interest, my colleague, Deputy Bruton, sought reports from the relevant agencies under the aegis of the Department on the operation of the wider waste collection sector. These reports were furnished. These agencies included the National Employment Rights Authority, the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, the Labour Relations Commission, LRC, the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority.

Regulation of the waste management sector is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly. He is currently considering options for the development of a new regulatory framework to reform the regulation of the collection of household waste. In this regard, the contents of these reports have been compiled and brought to the attention of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Officials of my Department are working with officials of that Department to ensure that issues arising from those reports are comprehended within that Department’s new regulatory framework.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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Is it possible that all the issues the Minister raised could be debated in an Oireachtas committee? This question was tabled on foot of the Greyhound dispute last year when the workers were locked out in an attempt to reduce their wages. The company did reduce their wages and some people got their jobs back. What report was received back from the Labour Court after the Minister submitted his request to the Labour Court last year with regard to wages? Is it proposing that anything be put in place in the waste industry? The Minister said that the wages were at or above the minimum wage. Questions were raised regarding the roll out of brown bins and it was suggested that companies are not complying with that. There are also the health and safety concerns about vehicles. Can the Minister direct me to where I can view those reports and bring them to the House for debate? It is a very serious matter.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The HSA, an agency under the aegis of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, decided to undertake a focused campaign of inspection and engagement with the players in the waste management sector last year. The aim was to ensure that there were improved standards of performance in the industry and a renewed focus on workplace health and safety due to the issues of which the Deputy and I are aware. The HSE met directly with representatives of the waste industry association to discuss improvements to standards in the industry. The National Employment Rights Authority carried out a review of its inspection cases involving waste collection, disposal and recycling services from 2009 to 2014. Interestingly, it found that the overall level of compliance in these cases closely followed overall employer compliance across industry.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government is undertaking a review of the waste management sector and my officials are in direct contact with officials in his Department to ensure that the Department fully understands the reports we received, the need for labour standards to be maintained in the industry and the needs surrounding labour costs.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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Is the Minister recommending that some type of wage rate be set in the waste industry? I note from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, that although waste management facilities only account for 15% of licences, they account for over 50% of the EPA investigations. That is a lot of investigations by the EPA for a small cohort of businesses.

Did anything particular in that respect come to the Minster of State's attention or that of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly? There was grave concern over those areas in September when this investigation was initially mooted. Is the Department talking about bringing in a wage rate for the waste industry in general?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Under the legislation re-establishing joint labour committees, JLCs, it is not a matter for the Minister to dictate whether there should be a JLC or another wage setting mechanism. It is a matter for the Labour Court to examine the need for a particular type of wage setting mechanism in a sector.

I am always anxious to ensure that there are proper standards in every industry. Last year, the waste management industry was very much in focus because of the issues around the Greyhound dispute. We are publishing legislation this week in respect of additional wage setting mechanisms in the economy and the re-establishment of a constitutionally robust registered employment agreement system. Sectoral employment orders, which will be a different animal entirely, will do what they say on the tin in that they will apply to a particular sector. We will have a debate on that in the House over the next few weeks. Such initiatives are designed to make sure that labour standards are high and there can be proper engagement between employers and employees in a system that works for both.