Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I am never quite sure whether that is the right thing to do. Similar facilities need to be put in place for food cans and plastics other than milk bottles. More work needs to be done in this regard.

I was in the Oireachtas Library before I came to the Chamber. I glanced through various publications which one would not normally buy, including An Phoblacht, which has devoted two pages to anti-bin protests.

Regardless of who promotes the campaign, be it the Socialist Workers Party, Sinn Féin or another party, it is entirely without merit. People can apply for waivers from their local authority if they cannot afford the cost of refuse collection.

There is nothing left-wing about this campaign. I understand that left-wing policies are supposed to be about community solidarity, for example. The idea that refuse collection costs should only be paid for out of general taxation is flawed because people would have no incentive whatsoever to reduce the amount of waste they produce. The campaign is without intellectual or ideological merit. It is an appeal to people's selfishness rather than to their sense of solidarity. The Minister showed great skill in dealing with some of the false ideological arguments in campaigns on European treaties and other matters and he should address this argument in a similar fashion. I am sure he is doing so to some extent.

The campaign represents the most tired form of politics I have ever seen.