Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will speak to my amendment No. 13, which I have mentioned previously and which is about the civic amenity sites across the country. I know that a review of the civic amenity sites was carried out and that there were a number of findings from that review, particularly on the tariffs, the opening hours, the different materials that are accepted and the postcode lottery with regard to being within a reasonable distance of a civic amenity site. Amendment No. 13 seeks to achieve greater harmonisation in respect of those issues while looking at the co-location of facilities with co-operative and social enterprises, including men's sheds. Again, it is a lottery as to how these facilities are run. Some civic amenity sites in the country do fantastic work. I know of one example, a social enterprise operated by someone who takes the dials and buttons off electrical equipment and puts them online in order that if you happen to have an oven, a fridge or whatever else that is no longer manufactured, you can get the replacement handles or dials. That is a one-off, however. What we want to see is this harmonisation such that, no matter where you live in the country, your civic amenity site will have similar tariffs and similar opening hours and will accept the same materials as the civic amenity site in the county next door. We also want to see that sharing, that public co-operation, whereby these wonderful social enterprises operate in conjunction with the civic amenities such that we can learn from those and replicate them around the country.