Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reaction on Joe Duffy's radio show in recent days has been from reasonable people who have genuine concerns and lectures on competition will not resolve this issue. There are no exemptions for low-income households, the infirm or people with young children. In today's edition of The Irish Times, Miriam Lord described it as "the wheelie bins are coming". Unless the Minister, Deputy Coveney, takes immediate action to address the genuine concerns, people will be faced with marches on the streets and more people being unable to pay bin charges in respect of which they have been co-operating in recent years. The pay-by-weight system will penalise families with young children, particularly those who are in the nappy stage, and families tend to have more rubbish anyway. Options for recycling already have dwindled in the city and there are no substantial plans to bring in an education system to advise people on how to keep their waste to a minimum. The Government must listen to the concerns and must not keep ignoring the problem in the hope it will go away, as it will not. I call on the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to come to the House to explain what actions he intends to take to address this problem and to address the exorbitant bin charges that are being sold to Members as climate change measures. Personally, I do not buy that.