Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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783. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on a system where income from the collection of recyclables can be raised for local Government as a similar system exists in the north of Ireland and if a similar system was implemented the estimated revenue that could be earned from this. [34841/13]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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817. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he has looked at a system where income from the collection of recyclables can be raised for local government as a similar system exists in the North of Ireland; and if a similar system was implemented, the estimated revenue that would be earned from same. [35276/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 783 and 817 together.

The regulation and enforcement of waste collection are the responsibility of the relevant local authority under sections 33, 34 and 35 of the Waste Management Act 1996. Under section 60(3) of the Act I am precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance by a local authority, in particular circumstances, of a statutory function vested in it. The vast majority of local authorities have exited the waste collection market. A Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) published by my Department in July 2012 considered the introduction of franchise bidding by local authorities for household waste collection. This approach has been adopted in other EU Member States, whereby a local authority or group of authorities invite tenders from private operators to bid for the exclusive right to collect waste or certain streams of waste within their functional area. The RIA identified a number of risks associated with such an approach and ultimately made the recommendations to preserve the current market structure of side by side competition and to strengthen the regulation of household waste collection.

I published A Resource Opportunity - Waste Management Policy in Ireland in July 2012. The publication of the policy , which is available on my Department's website, confirmed the retention of side by side competition in the household waste collection market and also brought much needed policy certainty to the waste sector, particularly in terms of facilitating planning and investment decisions.