James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, I congratulated the Cathaoirleach on his appointment and I do so again today. I also congratulate Senator McFadden on becoming the Whip for the Seanad. I also congratulate the Minister, not only on his appointment but on brokering this deal which will give comfort to people while we have an opportunity to tease out the problems and fears people have about this issue.

I will not reiterate with the Minister said about the motivation behind the motion, but it is important to reiterate what is envisaged is not a new charge but a new way of charging and that we need, as my colleague has just said, more recycling to reduce landfill waste and to make householders more conscious of how they can help in this way.

The main purpose of the pay-by-weight system is to encourage householders to recycle and compost more. I know some households do not have the capacity to compost, but many households do and very often this is underutilised. I am very reassured there is no charge for the green bin because many households are only coming to terms with learning how to recycle and we need to keep this incentive for them. I commend the Minister on this. He has already mentioned the issue regarding people with specific medical problems and needs, particularly with regard to incontinence, which will be addressed and I welcome this also.

When the price freeze is over the Government will do all in its power to keep prices down. In my area of Fingal, Mr. Stephen Peppard is responsible for recycling plants, one of which is in the estuary. It takes all types of waste, including electrical, plastic and wood.

I wish to speak about transparency. I am very pleased the National Standards Authority of Ireland, the NSAI, has a role in ensuring the equipment used to weigh bins will be properly monitored, as fuel outlets are to ensure pumps are accurate rather than interfered with. However, I believe there is an issue which needs to be addressed and it may fall within the Minister's remit. I am referring to the fact that so many of the companies have offshore ownership, meaning we have no transparency over their profits. If we want trust, their profits should be open to us to inspect. If they are trying to make a case for increased charges I do not see why we should not know their current profit margins. They will argue, as they did to Shane Phelan in an excellent article he wrote on 13 July 2015, that they want to protect sensitive commercial information.Let us call a spade a spade. If every company were required to open its profits to inspection, it would create a level playing pitch. Given our history in respect of these issues, the Government must pay particular attention to ensuring profits are available for inspection, which would mean having these companies registered here rather than abroad and having them register as limited rather than unlimited companies.

I commend the amendment and oppose annulling the statutory instrument for the reasons the Minister outlined.