Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the last formal review of the household waste collection market was undertaken by his Department or a body under its aegis as well as by the Competition Authority; and to provide an outline of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the review. [18107/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Altering the structure of household waste collection market was the subject of a public consultation exercise back in 2011. A comprehensive Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) from 2012 also considered options regarding the organisation of the household waste collection market and is available on my Department’s website at the following weblink: .The RIA recognised that there were some advantages to the ‘franchise bidding’ approach (also known as competition forthe market) which scored marginally higher than strengthening the regulatory regime and keeping the existing 'side by side' competitive market structure (competition inthe market). However, given the critical nature of the waste collection service, the risks associated with moving to ‘franchise bidding’ were judged to deem this option ultimately less desirable. Noting that there was a possibility that a switch from ‘ side by side ’ competition to ‘franchise bidding’ could incur costs that actually made household waste collection less efficient, the RIA ultimately made the recommendation to strengthen the regulation of the market, especially in light of the risks associated with competition for the market.

The then Competition Authority were tasked, under A Resource Opportunity – Waste Management Policy in Ireland, with carrying out a formal review of the operation of the household waste collection market during 2016. However, this review was deferred, pending the scheduled introduction of pay-by-weight charging, so as to provide sufficient time for the new charging system to take effect before undertaking such a review.

I have recently agreed with industry, as part of a ‘price freeze’ transition period , that customers will from 1 January 2017 be able to see, through a dual billing process,details in their bills about the amount of waste they are disposing of, their costs under the continuation of their current price plan and details of the comparative pay-by-weight charge with the option to move to pay by weight.

At the end of this 12-month transition period (in July 2017), the Government will review the operation of pay-by-weight and the wider market to inform decisions in relation to the arrangements beyond 1 July 2017 .