Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I refer to Senator Callely's request for a report from the Leader on the removal of the bin charge waiver in Dublin City Council this month. I might be able to assist the Leader. There might be no need for a report to be supplied to Senator Callely because I can explain why the waiver is being removed. The reason is that the city council does not have the money to maintain the current waiver system. It is facing the same crisis confronting every other local authority in the country, which is forcing councillors into making difficult decisions. The city council does not have the money for two reasons. The first is that it is forced to implement a waste management system by the Government, but the Government does not provide it with the money to cover the cost. The second reason is that the economy in Dublin has been ruined by this Government, to the extent that one in three young people in the area are unemployed — this is a point I mentioned in the House yesterday — and the rate base the local authority depends on is now nearly gone. It is owing to the Government's management of the economy and the way in which it manages local authorities that such decisions are being made and are having to be made. If Senator Callely or anybody else is wondering why the elderly are worried and fearful about what will happen to them in the future, they need not look to what is happening in local authorities for the cause of that fear but to the current Government.