Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1515. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if there is a national policy in respect of the bin collection times that private waste management firms are allowed to operate in residential estates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33442/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Waste collection is subject to compliance with applicable environmental and other relevant legislation, primarily the Waste Management Acts 1996 – 2013, and conditions attached to each waste collector’s collection permit issued under the Waste Management (Collection Permit) Regulations 2007. Waste collection in individual local authority areas may also be subject to local bye-laws, including bye-laws specifying times during which waste is to be made available for collection. As part of implementation of the Government’s waste policy, A Resource Opportunity, my Department carried out a public consultation process earlier this year on options for revising the existing regulatory regime which applies to waste collection. The issues involved included the question of whether waste collection should take place between specified times and whether such times should be decided at a local, regional or national level. Arising from that process, my Department is now developing a robust new regulatory framework aimed at professionalising and modernising Ireland’s system of household waste collection. I expect to finalise the new Regulations in January 2015, with a view to the new regime coming into operation on 1 July 2015.