Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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217. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if a private waste company (details supplied) is subject to the current negotiations with the Government around the increase of charges; the action he will take against those companies which have increased their service charge as a means of passing additional charges onto their customers, given the 12 month suspension of charges. [18388/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I engaged actively and intensively with representatives of the waste industry in recent weeks and I have agreed a clear way forward that results in customers paying no more than they’re currently paying for waste over the next 12 months - by means of a price freeze to end-June 2017. The private waste company to which the Deputy refers is a member of a representative body which was part of that engagement and that representative body has indicated it will honour the agreement.

It is my intention 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.

During this transition period, the Government, in partnership with the waste industry, will drive an intensive public awareness, information and promotion campaign to support customers in understanding the new system, how they can change their waste management behaviour and manage better their waste costs under a pay-by-weight system.

The above approach provides increased transparency around what charges households would incur under pay-by-weight and also provides householders with information on the operation and benefits of pay by weight along with the option to switch to pay by weight charging from 1 January, 2017.

After the transitional 12-month period, the operation of pay-by-weight and of the wider waste market will be reviewed to inform decisions in relation to arrangements beyond 1 July 2017.