Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 383: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he has received the report of an investigation of the waste waiver schemes administered by local authorities; if on foot thereof, he will instruct his Department to take a lead role in helping and encouraging local authorities by carrying out a review of the administrative inconsistencies and anomalies that exist in waiver schemes throughout the country, devising guidelines for local authorities that will assist them in achieving fairness, equity, and consistency in the administration of waiver schemes, addressing the legal position relating to the provision of waiver schemes where the waste collection has been fully privatised, and expediting consideration of the regulation of the waste management sector with particular reference to the needs of low-income households with a view to ensuring that all households availing of such services, from whatever source, are facilitated with a waste waiver scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37051/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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My Department has received the report by the Ombudsman Waste Waiver Schemes Administered by Local Authorities and will be giving the report, and in particular the recommendations contained within it, full consideration. Waste management services have traditionally been provided at a local level, with individual arrangements being locally determined and tailored to local circumstances. The present legal framework, as determined by the Oireachtas, reflects this. In accordance with section 52 of the Protection of the Environment Act 2003, the determination of waste management charges, and any associated waiver scheme, is a matter for the relevant local authority, where it acts as the service provider. Similarly, where a private operator provides the collection service, it is a matter for that operator.

Significant regulatory issues have emerged as waste management services have rapidly evolved in recent years. These issues, which have been the subject of a formal public consultation, include the need to ensure that necessary public service criteria in relation to the provision of services in particular areas or in respect of specific households are properly addressed. The existing regulatory framework requires modernisation. The identification of the changes necessary will be greatly assisted by the recent OECD report on the review of the public service, which includes a specific case study on waste management.

It is also the case that the revised approach to the collection of household waste being taken by the Dublin local authorities will further inform what measures may be necessary to underpin sustainable waste collection services, whether delivered by the private or public sectors. In these contexts the appropriate policy responses will be developed and elaborated to address the concerns raised.