Sheila Terry (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the Seanad. I also welcome the French Minister and his party and I hope they enjoy their visit.

I am raising a very local issue which I am sure will be familiar to the Minister of State as it is in his own area. I have received a number of queries from schools in our local area who are concerned that Fingal County Council will no longer collect waste from schools free of charge. This will now be a cost to the schools and it will vary from €4,000 upwards per annum. The council has said – I think rightly so – that it cannot carry the burden of the collection of waste from the schools, that it is a cost for the Department of Education and Science.

I ask the Department to reimburse the schools for the cost of waste collection. In addition to charging for the removal of waste, the council has also removed the green bins from the schools. School managers now must inform pupils that any recyclable waste such as cans and paper must be taken home. This may seem like a good idea but it is extremely difficult to implement and will no doubt cause a nuisance. Some children may not take the waste home and it will be dumped somewhere. The schools are left in a very difficult position.

The Minister of State is aware that parents must fundraise extensively for various school needs and to expect schools to carry a cost of €4,000 or €5,000 or perhaps more in the case of larger schools is causing boards of management great concern. I ask the Minister of State if the Department will reimburse the schools for this cost which is now being imposed by the council. I support the council's decision on this but I want something done about it. The Department of Education and Science must deal with it.