Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Our fundamental issue is with the privatised model. We call for a study on the feasibility of the re-municipalisation of waste services. We want to see if it is possible to bring these waste services back under local authority control. I pick up on the points mentioned by Senator O'Sullivan. There are serious issues around some of these companies and there are also issues around workers' rights in these companies. The people who worked as binmen for the local authorities, who have been mentioned, certainly had reasonably good terms and conditions but there is much to be questioned about some of the terms and conditions of people working for some of these companies in particular.

The concerns which we raised this time last year are being brought to the fore. We know that there are state-run waste services in many EU countries which work very well. We currently have 67 waste collection operators in this country. That means 67 different cost regimes and no common approach. We raised this last year. We have one company delivering these services in Connemara and delivering the same services, at a much reduced rate, in Leitrim. There has been an awful lot of talk about competition but there is no competition in Connemara, and I am sure it is the same in many other rural areas, because there is only one company delivering the service. There is a monopoly scenario where everybody is over a barrel and has to pay the price which the company charges. The Minister is now giving them carte blanche to set the price at whatever they wish. There will be no common charges across the country. We do not believe that an increase in private operators will lead to increased competition and therefore a reduction in prices.

We also need to seriously address the issue of waste by producers. Take toothpaste as an example. It is sold in a tube, which in turn comes in a cardboard box. The consumer is paying for this waste at the retail stage and under the Minister's scheme they will pay again at the stage of waste disposal. We should also look at Christmas and the amount of packaging that comes with toys and so on at that time of year. We need to look at the whole issue of packaging as well.

The fact that this is a regressive cost which will hit lower-income families does not seem to bother Fianna Fáil whatsoever. This is very much a regressive new tax. The fact that there is no waiver for lower-income families - some of whom may be bigger families - is absolutely inexplicable and unacceptable. We have also raised the issue previously that some of these private companies will not service certain areas and will not go up certain roads. I get phone calls regularly, as I am sure the Minister does, saying that operators will just not go up a road because it is not commercially viable to do so because there are not enough houses.That really has not been addressed. We will be opposing this in the Houses and on the streets, and ask that this be put back to an Oireachtas committee at least so that we can examine this in full, and to pause the introduction of these charges at this stage. We need to fully examine them and to do this properly.