Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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180. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment in light of the cost-of-living crisis, if he is aware that various waste collection companies have substantially increased their fees; if he has considered how this will impact low- and middle-income households; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23102/23]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The waste management market is serviced by private companies, where prices charged are matters between those companies and their customers, subject to compliance with all applicable environmental and other relevant legislation, including contract and consumer legislation.

As Minister I have no role in setting prices in a private market. However, in the interest of encouraging further waste prevention and greater recycling, flat-rate fees for kerbside household waste collection were phased out over the period autumn 2017 to autumn 2018. In order to give effect to this measure, the permits of all household waste collectors were amended at that time.

Under the revised permit condition, waste collectors are required to charge fees which contain a weight based and/or per lift fee for collection of residual waste. Where a fee is charged for the collection of recyclable, food waste and bio-waste that fee must not negate the incentive to segregate waste and shall be lower than the fees applied for the collection of residual household waste. Collectors are allowed to charge a service fee, so long as there remains an incentive to segregate waste.

Within these rules, the structure of pricing plans is a commercial decision for the waste collection companies and as Minister I have no power to intervene in this. Given the significant market reforms due to be delivered this year, including introduction of incentivised waste collection charging in the commercial sector, the introduction of a "recovery levy" from 1 July and the nationwide expansion of kerbside bio-waste collections, I have however instructed my officials to reinstitute the Price Monitoring Group to monitor whether fair and transparent pricing is consistent in the market, in line with commitments given in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy.

Enforcement of the permit conditions is a matter for the relevant local authority. Under section 60(3) of the Waste Management Act, I am precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to the performance, in specific cases, by a local authority or local authorities of their statutory functions under the Act.