Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith soiléiriú a fháil ón gCeannaire, más féidir, maidir leis an díospóireacht faoin diaspora. Cén uair a bheidh muid á thógáil sin? Bhí sé sin iarrtha ag roinnt daoine.

I also propose an amendment to the Order of Business: that we take motion No. 7 on the Order Paper today. I had phone calls from a very irate constituent yesterday who told me that she has been a customer for 23 years with one of the waste disposal companies and has always used the system where she buys the refuse sacks in her local shop to dispose of waste. She can no longer do that under the new system that has been set up. This is a change from what we were told last week in a debate in this House - that "under no circumstances would the Government allow a situation whereby households would be mandated to switch over to a new charging system that would result in dramatic increases for many households". That is exactly what is happening, contrary to what the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, told us here last week during a debate. This new regime is to come in on 1 July. I have been contacted by people across the country, so it is quite clear to me that there are still issues with the waste companies across the country on this. I still believe that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, wittingly or unwittingly misled us in the Seanad last week. I do not know whether that is because the refuse companies did not tell him the full truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or whether he was aware that anybody who had been disposing of their refuse to date or who had been using bags or tag systems that they bought through the local shop would now be forced into a situation where they first have to register with the companies and then pay by weight, which is a fundamental change and very different from what we were told in the House last week.

I call on Fianna Fáil to support this amendment to the Order of Business because I am not sure whether its members were aware, when they proposed last week that they would give full support to the Minister on this, that they were not being given the full picture and the full information, or whether, under the new arrangement between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil was aware of it as well and this was part of the collusion that happened here last week. This is a very urgent debate. We need the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to come before us to clarify this very quickly. We need action to ensure that the new system is not brought in and that people are not penalised, because there is a huge cohort who either dispose of their own waste or use the bag or tag system who will now be forced to register, pay standing charges and pay extra costs.