Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Naughten, and his officials to the House. His portfolio seems to be expanding regularly with different responsibilities being added to communications, natural resources and all sorts of other commitments.

Last year the Government tried to rush pay-by-weight bin charges through the Houses. Fianna Fáil called on the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, to suspend the new charges regime until we established why families were experiencing a massive increase in their bills. To do so, the then Minister promised a public awareness campaign which did not transpire and the introduction of dual pricing in order that people could compare the cost of pay-by-weight with a fixed-charge system, something which also did not transpire. This year, the Minister went barrelling into the repetition of the same mistake by announcing these changes to the charging regime without making the slightest effort to present price gouging.

We cannot sacrifice the rights of the consumer in an effort to protect the environment and so Fianna Fáil believes that a regulator to monitor the waste collection industry and prevent price gouging must be established. We are committed to seeing that through. We are not opposed to the Government’s counter-motion which will see the Government pave the way for a price regulator. In the unlikely event that the Government's analysis does not provide for a regulator, we will introduce our own Bill on the matter. In the interim, to prevent proactive price rises by waste collectors, a price watchdog will be put in place immediately. This is a temporary measure until the regulator is established. The most important thing is that Fianna Fáil has successfully ensured a regulator for the waste industry will be established. We will continue to hold the Government to account on the waste collection system as well as related issues, such as fly-tipping and waste reduction. I welcome that the Minister has listened to the views put forward by an extremely experienced and responsible party which always has the national interest at heart.

This motion is also underpinned by Fianna Fáil's desire to improve Ireland's protection of the environment. Fianna Fáil also believes we need to get serious as a society about waste reduction. By and large, consumers, have no control over the packaging of groceries, household items or consumer goods. Fianna Fáil supports the establishment of a waste reduction task force to identify opportunities to reduce waste.

As a Deputy in Roscommon, the Minister has experience of how we endeavoured to close the Killarney waste disposal location which was a terrible blight on the area. It is now successfully closed and a recycling plant is there at the moment. There was an increase in waste disposal sites and every time there were major objections. It is in all our interests to ensure landfill sites are reduced because there is no doubt they are a problem.I welcome the Minister's decision to work with the Fianna Fáil Party on this. Fianna Fáil wholly supports the environmental underpinning of this new payment structure. Putting waste in incinerators or landfill has huge environmental costs and it is important that we incentivise recycling and composting to reduce our dependence on landfills and incineration.

While in government, Fianna Fáil doubled the percentage of municipal waste that was recycled, from 20% in 2002 to 40% in 2011, but the State cannot shift huge environmental costs onto struggling families around Ireland, such as will happen if the Minister continues with his shambolic plans. To this end, we have also pressed the Government to introduce supports for families experiencing hardship. In certain areas, particularly in rural areas, there is no competition among providers. Even where there are multiple operators, it is extremely difficult to compare the prices charged by different providers given the opacity of many service providers’ websites. Now that waste collectors will have multiple options such as paying by lift or paying by weight, this may even get worse. However, a waste regulator will ensure that there is fair practice within the waste sector and will reward operators who behave in an efficient and consumer-friendly manner. It will prevent sudden price gouging and will promote competition, ensuring that both customers and the environment are protected.

The only company I see servicing the Castlecoote area is Barna Recycling, which charges €350 per year without any other options, although options may be now coming in. We were anxious to have a regulator to ensure companies justified any increase and that we could monitor the situation. I welcome the incentive for people with incontinence. There will be hardship and large families will be most affected. Smaller families and grown-up families will have the same regime but there is no support for low-income families who have to provide payment for a service.

In 2011 there was a tax incentive for those who were compliant and this was a great way of carrying out surveillance. There was a 20% tax claim, worth approximately €70 if the charge went up to €400. I am not saying this is Fianna Fáil’s policy but it was there in 2011. It ensured people knew who was paying and was an incentive to become a member and join the companies giving the service. This is a budgetary matter and as the Minister said he was open to ideas, he should give it some consideration for those who are compliant and willing to contribute and co-operate.