Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I was referring to people telling me they were returning their wheeled bins because they could not afford them. At the same time, many people are genuinely attempting to reduce the amount of household waste generated, not only because of the costs involved, but also for environmental reasons. I prefer to see a positive incentive towards reducing household waste and one which does not encourage illegal dumping. I believe the Minister wants to achieve this, but I do not agree with his approach. We all want to achieve a positive environment for reducing and recycling household waste, composting and reducing packaging. When shopping, I have noted the large amounts of packaging with purchases and it is something we can do without.

The Minister said that if it is not broken, why fix it. That is fine in the current context, but this legislation will change that context considerably by increasing the powers of the manager regarding the setting of charges and so on. I am of the view that this amendment is necessary.

Question, "That the word proposed to be deleted stand," put and declared carried.

Amendment declared lost.