Results 18,261-18,280 of 40,897 for speaker:Simon Coveney
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: I said the provision of brown bins.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: I did not say that.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am trying to be helpful. If Members could please allow me to-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: What I said clearly - the Senator does not like it because it does not suit his argument and that is why he is trying to get aggressive-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: What I said was that the requirement to roll out the provision of brown bins to households in urban areas is dealt with under separate regulations, namely, the European Union (Household Food Waste and Bio-waste) Regulations 2015. It has nothing to do with the collection-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: What the Senator is talking about is the obligation to collect and the obligations surrounding the separation of waste. I am not talking about that. What the Senator has said concerns the obligation that households get brown bins in the first place-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: The Senator made his point earlier. I listened to him and I am trying to respond to explain-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: -----that the statutory instrument that he is seeking to annul does not concern the roll-out of brown bins to people's houses. There is a separate regulation on that-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: The Senator does not want to hear me. That is the problem.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: He does not want to hear me. That is the reality.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: Of course the regulation that we are talking about today, and which the Senator proposes to annul, relates to the separation of waste. Nobody is disagreeing with that. What I am talking about is households getting a brown bin in the first place and rolling out that provision, so can the Senator please accept that is a separate regulation. The Senator does not want to do that-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: -----because it will not suit his argument.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: With respect, I am not seeking permission from the Senator to continue.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: People are talking about new politics and they are being cynical about it. People have raised issues which I accept are raised genuinely. I am seeking to give accurate answers, but the Senator does not want to hear them. That is what is happening.
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: I am raising the points that if one chooses to annul this statutory instrument, there are consequences to that, and the consequences are that one essentially annuls a whole series of rules that actually hold waste operators to account and ensure that there is a level playing field to ensure that the kind of cowboy behaviour about which some of the Senators are concerned does not happen. If...
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: Yes, Fine Gael too, absolutely. Last week I answered questions in the Dáil regarding the concerns that were understandably building over the introduction on a mandatory basis of a switch-over to a new charging structure requiring pay by weight, which links back to a statutory instrument that was introduced last January for all the right reasons, in an effort to try to encourage the...
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: Let us not get too precious here. We have responded to the genuine concerns that we heard last week as a Government. People from all parties and none asked me to engage with the industry and ensure that no household would be ripped off as we try to move to a pay-by-weight charging structure. That is exactly what I did. Last Friday, the day after those questions were raised, we met the...
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: The point I am making is that the approach that was being proposed that resulted in such a negative reaction from many households who had genuine concerns is now not happening. Instead we have a different approach that involves a 12-month freeze in charges so no one needs to worry about getting ripped off. While they are considering now in a serious way switching to pay by weight, they will...
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: Workers' rights is a broader issue that is getting attention from Government. We actually increased the minimum wage twice during the term of the last Government and introduced a series of other labour support measures as well-----
- Seanad: Waste Management: Motion (22 Jun 2016)
Simon Coveney: -----but what we are talking about here is ensuring that the concern that was expressed last week by many households can be addressed by Government in a comprehensive way, and that is happening. The other thing that we have got from the industry is an absolute commitment on incontinence wear and the waste that it incurs. 60,000 people in Ireland require incontinence wear from the HSE, which...