Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That was a fundamental mistake and should be reversed. The Government is selling this new regime while championing the idea that competition will ensure prices are kept low and there are no sudden spikes. That is not going to happen. We have a lot of unlimited companies - are we going to be depending on them to keep prices low and create competition?It has not happened in the insurance industry or many other industries. The approach has been that if we leave everything to the market, the market will take care of it but we have seen time and time again that it will not do so. We should not mess around with essential services under the pretext that if we leave everything to the market, it will be okay.

There are counties where a pay-by-weight system operates but where there is only one waste operator. How does the Minister explain that in terms of the competition regulating the market? In theory, the customers of this company are at the mercy of the CEO as to whether charges are increased. There have also been suggestions that an independent regulator will be established to regulate the industry. As I said, we already have the Department and the EPA to do this job. There is no need to establish a separate quango to do it. We need only consider the debacle regarding car insurance premiums to know that if there are too many bodies supposedly regulating the industry, nobody knows where the buck stops. There should be increased regulatory control as part of the State's overall waste reduction strategy without the establishment of an independent regulator.

The latest Government initiative is aimed at the wrong people. If the Government wants to follow the principle of the polluter pays, the biggest polluters are companies which, at a wholesale level, churn out more plastic and cardboard packaging year after year. There has been nothing from the Minister to penalise companies that flood the Irish market with excessive packaging or to incentivise them to not to use as much packaging. The polluter pays principle in the EU waste directive says that the cost of waste management shall be borne by the original waste producer or the current or previous waste holders. The directive also explicitly allows states to levy charges or fines on those who introduce excessive waste into the market. Will the Minister tell us if fines have been levied on companies that were deemed to have introduced excessive waste into the market?

Member states may decide that the cost of waste management is to be borne partly or wholly by the producer of the product from which the waste came and that the distributors of such product may share these costs. This is explicitly outlined in the directive. The Government's contention that these measures are needed because there is a waste crisis does not add up. We are one of the top recycling societies in Europe. We are in fourth place. Will the Minister confirm that? We are on target for our EU requirements on household waste recycling. The figure in this regard currently stands at 45% and we have an objective to reach 50% by 2020. It is clear from this that citizens, whom the Minister is now seeking to target, are fulfilling their role in the context of reducing, reusing and recycling. Along with not addressing waste reduction, the Minister is placing the burden on the householder. We are asking him to put in place a waiver system for low-income workers and households. The current proposal of a €75 reduction in respect of incontinence waste is totally inadequate. I am glad the Minister mentioned the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and his collaborations with it because it ends up paying the bills of many householders who cannot afford to pay the excessive charges imposed by many of these private companies.

The Minister needs to immediately withdraw the proposed changes on pricing, put in place a proper waiver scheme, commission a feasibility study on bringing the service back under local authority control and ensure that local councils will have sufficient powers and funding to stop illegal dumping. We cannot continue like this. There are many people in rural areas who cannot afford to pay. There are individuals who do not pay but there are also those who absolutely cannot afford to pay. If a waiver system were in place or if it was affordable for people to have their bins picked up, it would improve the situation. The reality is that many people cannot afford to have their bins picked up because they are unable to afford what is being charged. They will certainly be unable to pay under this new system.