Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. We see a lot of him here and I thank him for coming in to discuss this very important Bill from Senator Wall. I compliment the Senator on bringing forward this Private Members' Bill. It is very important and is coming forward at a very apt time. We can see now more than ever the illegal dumping of stuff because of the amount of walking everybody is doing on byways and roadways and so on. It is unbelievable the amount of rubbish that is not only in bogs and rivers but along main roads and byroads. People are just throwing it out the window. How does one catch those people? There cannot be CCTV cameras everywhere. I welcome the Bill. It is incredible to think that it is probably the same people who are doing it.

I see this issue in my own area, with places littered with Red Bull cans. Obviously, that is not a daytime exercise. It is more than likely at night that the Red Bull cans, plastic bags and so forth are being thrown out the window. I know from being in the catering business and the fast food business for a number of years that the area got a lot of criticism but it was not the only area that had a problem. At that time, the place was littered with plastic bags but I do not know any fast food outlet that is giving out plastic bags so they were coming from supermarkets and other places. There is a huge responsibility on everybody regarding this issue.Many people are involved in dumping. Even if it is only a cigarette butt thrown out of the window of a car, it is illegal. It is not supposed to happen, and it should not happen. We need to use whatever resources are available to the State, local authorities and whomever else to try to clean up our countryside. Great credit is due to the many people who give their time voluntarily to Tidy Towns committees and various other committees to clean up towns and the countryside, including going through rubbish to identify the name of somebody who has dumped illegally. Of course, they are very cute nowadays and that is probably not happening. There is an onus on everybody. People on Tidy Towns committees tell me they are cleaning the same places every year and the rubbish is in the same place year after year.

I am delighted that the Minister of State is accepting Senator Wall's Private Members' Bill, which represents a step forward. It may be possible to improve it and if so, that is good. Even if it cannot be improved, the Bill should be passed into law because as I said earlier, we need to use whatever tools are available to the State and local authorities. I am sure the Minister of State will stress the colossal amount that is spent by local authorities. One Senator suggested it is an average of €80 million or €90 million in each local authority. That level of money should not be spent on collecting rubbish and disposing of it appropriately. This money could be used to benefit towns and villages or to build houses or go towards other greater needs than having to collect rubbish.

I support the Bill and I am delighted that the Minister of State is taking it on board. I again thank the Tidy Towns committees for the great work they do. In my town of Castlebar, McGrath Waste has a recycling facility, which is a fabulous place. People can go in there with all their rubbish if they want and recycle what they can, with what is left going away for landfill. It is a great amenity. They exist in other towns as well. They are not that far away from most people who have transport. There may be some problems in cities where there is overcrowding and so forth. Those facilities are a great amenity.

Until relatively recently in certain towns, dustbins would be overflowing for several weeks, but new bins are in use now. A neighbour of mine, Tom Griffin, from Balla in County Mayo makes a bin with a solar panel system that compacts the rubbish in the bin. There is no great problem nowadays with dustbins overflowing with rubbish. In many cases those bins can also notify the local authority when it is time for them to be collected. Many advances have been made and there is no need to throw rubbish on the side of the road because a landfill or recycling centre is never that far away now. I urge people to have a look before they throw rubbish out the window. Even if it takes CCTV to deal with this issue, it is a step in the right direction.