Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. Dublin City Council's phase 3 bag-free streets programme will end plastic bag collection in Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Broadstone, and other parts of the north-west inner city. It might feel like a good thing that we are removing plastic bags from rubbish collection. There have been incidents of seagulls opening bags which inevitably leads to rubbish being scattered and various related issues.

There is going to be a significant problem in that specific part of Dublin, however, on foot of this development because what is being proposed as an alternative involves a number of issues. The first of this is that there are going to be wheelie bins on streets that are in no way suitable for wheelie bins. The size of the bins that will be provided by the private operators involved means that take up half the footpath. If the Minister of State imagines streets like in Stoneybatter, there are rows upon rows of small terraced houses that either do not have back gardens or have gardens that are too small to house the wheelie bins on days when they are not being collected. That creates its own issues. On days when collections are taking place there will be wheelie bins taking up more than half the width of footpaths in communities where there are people with mobility issues. Wheelchair access is going to be prevented and anybody with a pram will simply have to move out onto the road.

I do not doubt the intention behind a plan like this, but the reality when it comes into place in a couple of weeks is going to be that will be rows of bins that will be an impediment to simply being able to get from their homes to their places of work and back. That is going be an issue. Councillors from all parties on Dublin City Council unanimously passed a motion several weeks ago in which they called for this initiative to be stopped. They advocated for that, but in the past couple of days, the private operators contacted residents in Broadstone, Phibsborough and Stoneybatter to let them know that this change will be coming into place. This is a change that will have ramifications for accessibility. The aesthetic is another thing, because having these bins on the streets will be a blight on the entire neighbourhood. However, that is not as important as the fact that people will have to go get off the footpath in order to walk up the street.

There are also cost implications. It costs €40 for the bag collection. The cost of the wheelie bin collection is €240. In a cost-of-living crisis, that is a substantial increase. This has been foisted upon residents to the point where they are lobbying for their TDs to come into this Chamber and advocate against a change in the method of waste management. That is not what I want to be doing. I want to be scrutinising legislation and proposing Bills, but this is going to have an impact on the city of Dublin, our capital city, and the communities in it.

I understand that the regulation of waste management comes under the Department of climate. I am asking for some form of intervention with Dublin City Council. This initiative has not been accessibility proofed. The residents will certainly not be able to store wheelie bins or anything like that in their homes.

What they are asking for is some form of intervention by the State that will oversee the regulatory approval of initiatives like this and ask for a pause in order that full accessibility proofing can be done and alternative suggestions can be proposed. There have been alternatives proposed in the context of compactors and other things. Everyone accepts that there is an issue but nobody accepts that this is the solution. The solution to one problem will create a host of new issues which will fall outside the remit of Dublin City Council into all sorts of other areas, and we will be back here again. That will not be fair on people with accessibility issues who will be forced to walk on the street, nor will it be fair for anyone with a pram. Then there are also the cost implications. I am interested in hearing the Minister of State's response.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I am here on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O’Brien. Waste management is a statutory executive function of local authorities. The phase-out of bags for the collection of waste is an initiative being taken by Dublin City Council, as the Deputy outlined. Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act, the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment is precluded from exercising any power or control, in specific circumstances, over the statutory functions of a local authority. That is not to say I will not relay the concerns the Deputy has outlined and see if there is any possibility of an intervention.

The collection of waste in bags was prohibited nationally over ten years ago, except in areas designated by local authorities as only being suitable for collection of waste in bags for reasons such as streets being too narrow or where there is no space within a property for three bins. In recent years, this was amended to collection by means of atypical collection solutions. If a household is in an area with no bin collection service, it may be able to avail of atypical collection solutions such as non-reusable receptacles or bags from the nearest collection point. Local authorities are responsible for designating areas as being only suitable for the collection of such waste by means of atypical collection solutions. Households can check with their local authorities if such a designation applies to their address and can organise a service with an authorised waste collection company accordingly.

Private waste collectors operate under a waste collection permit issued by the National Waste Collection Permit Office, NWCPO. These permits are subject to a set of standard conditions which include a requirement that waste collection charging systems should incentivise customers to source segregate their waste. This means that the fees charged for the collection of the brown bin or mixed dry recyclables bin should be lower than the fees for the collection of the residual general waste bin. All permits can be viewed in full on the NWCPO website.

The waste management market is serviced by private companies, where the terms and conditions of contracts, including payment methods, are matters between those companies and their customers, subject to compliance with all applicable legislation, including contract and consumer legislation. The Minister has no role in relation to payment methods or setting prices in a competitive market.

The roll-out of this programme by Dublin City Council is an anti-litter and anti-dumping initiative. It will eliminate the presentation of domestic and commercial waste in bags, preventing the bags being ripped open by birds and vermin, thus making the streets cleaner. Affected households will need to switch to wheelie bins or use the new waste compactors. Any questions on the roll-out of the programme should be directed to Dublin City Council.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The State does set the regulatory framework that underpins the transition here. It is important that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, understands the consequences for people in my area in Stoneybatter, Broadstone and Phibsborough, who are being forced to enter into a free-for-all between different private operators on streets that are wholly unsuitable for the services they provide. Imagine the situation where two or three days a week where small residential streets where there will be bins preventing people from getting through footpaths. That is a substantial lacuna in the law and the policy.

Accessibility and public sector duty might even come into play here because how we provide for waste management services does have consequences for those. The Minister can potentially apply public sector duty to ensure there is accessibility proofing done of this decision. We are paying the consequences of this bad privatisation of waste management. The ideal scenario for most of us would be for waste management services to come back under the remit of local authorities.

As it stands, people in Stoneybatter, Phibsborough and Broadstone will have to choose between competing operators and providers. They do not have anywhere to store the large bins they will be expected to purchase at a cost that is substantially higher than they paid previously. For all that, they will not only have seagulls picking their bags but they will also will face impediments in the context of getting up and down their streets.

These decisions that will have consequences. I am asking that the Minister intervene simply by asking Dublin City Council if this is the best policy for this particular part of Dublin. It is a much-discussed area because it is in the central part of the capital city. The policy in this regard is nonsensical. Dublin City Council is trying to remove from itself the cost involved in picking up scattered rubbish, but the consequences will be felt by people who cannot get up and down their streets.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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It is widely recognised there are difficulties with the collection of household waste in bags, including the littering caused as a result of bags being ripped, which we often see. There are health and safety issues for collectors whereby sharp objects are placed in bags, litter caused by fly-tipping on streets in areas where bag collections take place, little or no segregation of recyclables or food waste and the inability to gather data on waste collected for statistical and environmental reporting purposes.

The Department, in consultation with local authorities, set criteria to be applied nationally with a view to phasing out bags except for areas where it is not practical to use wheelie bins and have been designated by local authorities as suitable for the use of atypical collection solutions. The criteria for these designated areas are: no space within the boundary of the property, which is the argument the Deputy is making; physical features would make it difficult to move a bag to the front or edge of the property or nearest boundary for presentation, or that it would be unreasonably difficult; that the area is too narrow for a refuse collection vehicle to access properties and the nearest designated collection point or suitable presentation point is more than 100 m from the property; and where the local authority is notified of exceptional circumstances and certifies it as same.

While waste legislation and policy are a matter for the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, the bag-free streets programme is entirely an initiative for Dublin City Council. The council reports that illegal dumping has reduced by approximately 20 tonnes per month since the introduction of the programme and has contributed significantly to the very positive findings of the most recent Irish Business Against Litter survey, which noted a reduction in littering and an improved level of cleanliness. These improvements have delivered savings in terms of resources required - the Deputy acknowledged that argument – as well as collection and disposal costs for waste management services. I will relay Deputy Gannon’s concerns to the Minister.