Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The comments of Opposition Senators almost fill me with despair because this is the sort of argument to which I have been listening throughout the country for the past ten years. The trouble with the argument is that there is not a semblance of leadership emerging either from the Fine Gael Party or the Labour Party on these issues. Both parties know that the law of this land and the European directives make it quite clear that the polluter pays principle is what underpins the waste management strategy. All parties supposedly signed up to this, which means that each individual is responsible for the cost of disposing of his or her waste.