Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim mo bhuíochas leis an Aire as teacht isteach. I appreciate the conciliatory nature of the Minister's presentation and I appreciate him coming to the House to discuss the matter. This is not just something we are trying to cause trouble over. It is a serious issue that has been raised with us and I did make these points in the debate that was previously held, points which were possibly missed during that debate.

There are issues around some of the ways the companies are acting in this regard. I believe that the Minister was probably not told the full truth by the companies when he met with them with the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Kyne, going by comments he has made in the media.

We have an issue around policy of the privatisation of bin services, etc., and the way the Minister is moving on the statutory instrument. I will not go into those issues at the moment. However, I will discuss the specific implementation issues that will kick in from tomorrow, 1 July, as have been related to me. Existing customers with the companies are having a pay freeze. Therefore, a person who is already with Barna Recycling in my area is going to continue with that company, and that charge is frozen. The issue arises for the 37% of people in my area who are not registered with Barna Recycling but who may have been customers of Barna Recycling. The Minister's assertion that nobody is going to pay more than they are currently paying provides an anomaly for those who use bags or the people who have disposed of their waste in a proper manner.

A number of cases have come up. For example, a pensioner on Raidió na Gaeltachta this morning explained that she had been recycling all her life. She lives alone, buys a green bag very rarely because she recycles most of what she has and she buys a blue bag once a month. She was managing but she feels that she is now being penalised. She went to the shop to try to buy her bags as usual. She could not get the bags and was told that she had to telephone Barna Recycling. She telephoned the company and was told that as she was a new customer, even though she has been buying the bags for 20 years, she had to buy the bags in bulk at a minimum price of €60. She is on a pension and she says that she cannot afford to pay that. She was also told that she would have to pay the standing charge. The standing charge being imposed in our area is between €204 to €238 per annum. It is based on distance depending on which area a person lives in. She explained on the radio that she was a good recycler all her life she is now being penalised and being moved to a situation where she is going to be paying a couple of hundred euro more per year than she would have been previously.

Another call came from a couple who have two young children who are still in nappies. That were using the bag system because their home is more than 100 m away from the pick-up point where the truck would be passing. The family did their calculations and estimated they would be paying €500 extra a year because of the pay-by-weight system and they are very concerned about that.

There is huge concern that there is going to be a lot of dumping because of this issue and because the measure is kicking in tomorrow and the bags are no longer available in the shops. There is a huge issue there. Perhaps the Minister will go back and ask the companies who are selling the bags to the shops to maintain that system for at least the next year while the freeze on charges is in place. The Minister made the point that it is impossible to know how many bags people have bought over the year. Now is the time to start monitoring that practice so that over the next year he will have a proper estimate of how much refuse each of those people are generating. The Minister might also consider waiving the registration charge for those people who can prove that they were customers, albeit buying the service through the local shop as opposed to buying directly from the company. That would maintain the scenario that the Minister has said he wishes to see, which is nobody paying any extra than they currently do.

With regard to the waste bag system will the Minister indicate how the waste allowance system will work for persons who use bags? For example if a person has a medical condition and has medical waste they need to dispose of will the Minister clarify that situation for those people?

Reference was made to the opt-out scenario from Greyhound. The Minister has indicated that it is not acceptable that people should not be told that it is an opt-out rather than opt-in. In some areas, even though it is an open market, there is a monopoly scenario. There are some geographic areas where there is only one company operating and there is no choice. For example, in our own area in Galway, and I have cited this on a number of occasions, the standing charge by Barna Recycling in the Connemara area is between €204 to €238. The same company charges €80 for the same service in Leitrim, which is of very similar geography. There is something very wrong with that.

We are also being told that when people do register with companies they are going to have to put money into banks and into the company's bank account in advance before they get any services. This was raised with the director of services at Galway County Council on Monday and he said he has received no direction whatsoever from the Department. They are still awaiting direction from the Minister's Department on how the system is working. Will the Minister clarify that situation as this is what we have been told by the director of services?

The Minister needs to go back and play a bit more hardball with the waste companies. There has been some illegal dumping but there are people who maintain and manage their own waste disposal. They recycle and then bring any waste they have into places like Barna Recycling. We need to look how those people can be dealt with so they are not paying any extra. I appreciate the Minister has come to the House to sort this problem. We want to help the Minister sort it and if we see any more issues we will bring them to him. However, because this measure is taking effect from tomorrow, people need certainty today that the system they have been working with up to now will continue from tomorrow at least, so there is no disparity of treatment across the board.