Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am supportive of all the initiatives the Minister of State outlined. However, a piece of the jigsaw is missing. We are talking to the people who want to do more, but there are people who feel they cannot do more, for a variety of reasons, or will not do more. This is not about the individual, rather, this is about the overall provision of services. At the moment, local authorities are cleaning up the mess left behind because we have such a fragmented system. The missing piece of the jigsaw has to be brought into the conversation. Ultimately, we need to look at how we are spending money in this area. The Minister of State rightly mentioned that local authorities cannot compete with the prices of some of the private operators that are frankly paying pittance to their workers. They are paying the minimum wage when there were good jobs in waste collection in local authorities. The key issue is that Dublin City Council has to spend extra money to clean up the mess left behind because of the chaotic fragmented system, particularly in Dublin but also in other parts of the country. The crucial point is that we cannot talk about the initiatives to individuals; rather, we need to look at the overall provision of services, and local government and local authorities is where that needs to be.