Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments about how important the Stormont negotiations are at this crucial stage. Obviously we want agreement. As the late Martin McGuinness said from the beginning, we want an agreement based on equality, parity and fairness. That is what we are fighting for on an hourly basis with the hope the institutions can get back up and running again to do the job that they need to do for all of the people across the North.

Today, I want to raise the issue of waste charges, which is an issue that the Sinn Féin team raised in the first weeks of this term. Sinn Féin tabled a motion that would prevent a situation whereby households would be forced to switch over to a new charging system that would result in dramatic price increases. We also asked for the retention of bags and labels for anyone who disposed of very little waste. We did so because we viewed a one-size-fits all per kilo weight charge as impacting on lower income families more severely.

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has mentioned in his departmental press release that there had been an increase in waste sent to landfill in the past two years. There was no mention of the need for industry to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. There also needs to be a reduction in waste produced at the wholesale level.Those responsible for producing massive amounts of packaging need to pay their share. It is clear that domestic households cannot be entirely responsible for such a large increase in the volume of landfill waste. Sinn Féin's motion contains protections for those on low incomes. It has all happened in the context of the announcement that bands for charging, rather than a flat rate, will be introduced. There are many families with large numbers of children, including children in respect of whom additional waste is produced, who are worried about what this will mean for them. They have been left to rely on competition within the private sector to ensure they will not see an increase in their waste disposal charges. I urge the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, to re-examine this issue and provide the necessary assurances. Will the Leader ask him to come to the House to discuss this important issue and the measures that can be introduced to protect low income families?