Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

As the Senator knows, my position on this is pretty well defined. I do not propose to accept the amendment which, in effect, would require a local authority to continue to collect household waste from a person even when he or she fails to pay a relevant waste charge. In other words, people would subsidise their neighbours. Councillors from all political parties wanted this corrected as a result of the Supreme Court case referred to by the Senator. As there must be equity between householders, this is the proper course of action. All of the Senator's colleagues who are members of local authorities would agree.