I commend my Labour colleague, Deputy Sherlock, on her work on introducing the Waste Management (Single Household Waste Collection Service) Bill 2026. It is a tribute to her tenacity that she has worked for so many years on this issue. It is the culmination of a good deal of work across her constituency of Dublin Central and I welcome her visitors in the Gallery from Stoneybatter, Phibsborough, Smithfield and Broadstone. From canvassing alongside Deputy Sherlock for our candidate Ruth O'Dea in the recent Dublin Central by-election I know just how pressing an issue waste collection is in the constituency. It came up extensively on the doors. People were very concerned about the changes that are proposed. There were very concerned also about all sorts of issues like illegal dumping, as Deputy Sherlock mentioned, the proliferation of different companies - they see quite a number of different lorries going up and down the same streets - not to mention the seagulls and foxes puling apart binbags on the street. My constituents in Dublin Bay South express similar concerns to me daily. In Portobello, across the south-east inner city and across the constituency I hear from constituents and experience myself these very same issues and concerns about waste collection and how these services are run in Dublin. For residents and businesses alike it is fair to say, as Deputy Sherlock has done, that the waste system is currently dysfunctional. Just today I and other local representatives got an email from the owner of two restaurants in Dublin city centre about this issue. The Minister of State’s brief includes not only the circular economy but also small business. The restaurant owner said he fully supported the council’s ambition to improve waste management to keep our city cleaner but that commercial waste regulations introduced since December 2025 are creating serious practical difficulties for many hospitality businesses, especially those operating from older city centre buildings with limited storage. He went on to say one of his greatest frustrations is that the regulations are making it harder to recycle. That is a real concern when we are all so committed to seeing the circular economy work and to meeting climate targets on waste. The owner says he no longer has space to accommodate additional recycling bins, cannot leave recyclable waste out for collection and cannot leave flattened cardboard outside for collection. Private waste companies must send a vehicle to collect this directly from premises. This is costly, inefficient and unnecessary. He makes a number of other points but his argument is the burden of solving the city’s waste problem has been transferred from the council to small business, many of which have no physical means of complying and will incur significant additional cost. For householders expressing the concerns I and Deputy Sherlock have outlined, and for small businesses too, waste collection services are simply not working. That is why we need to see a change. The Bill Deputy Sherlock and the Labour Party are proposing is not one we suggest is a silver bullet or a panacea but it offers one small, constructive mechanism to address the dysfunction in waste services. It is a source of great disappointment to me, Deputy Sherlock and the Labour Party to hear the Minister of State say the Government is opposing this Bill. He has acknowledged the Government shares many of the aspirations underpinning this Bill. We want high-quality services and strong environmental performance. We all recognise waste collection is a climate issue and an environmental issue. We all support the move to a circular economy and want to eliminate illegal dumping. This being the case, why can the Minister of State not reconsider his view and let this Bill pass Second Stage? We will be very happy to work with him on developing the broader, evidence-based proposals he speaks about so rightly and which we are in support of. We would have been glad to work with him and Government on how to amend the Bill and work on a broader framework for waste management that addresses the dysfunction. I am concerned to hear the Minister of State say there is an independent feasibility study without giving any timeline. I understand that was due to be published some months ago. Perhaps he or his Government colleagues might address when we are going to see that study report and hear what precisely are the new mechanisms the Government is proposing to fix the dysfunctional waste system. I do not mean just in Dublin, though Deputy Sherlock and I are focusing on Dublin and most of the TDs present are Dublin ones, as clearly this has ramifications across the country and the dissatisfaction and the concerns Deputy Sherlock’s constituents and mine are expressing are ones felt across the board. We are therefore disappointed at the Government’s decision to oppose the Bill. This is very much a broader issue for the Labour Party. Waste management is an essential public service. It is a climate issue, as I have said, but also one about public services. We want to see remunicipalisation. We have been working with the trade unions on this. We have supported SIPTU and Fórsa’s More Power to You campaign, which is a fight for stronger public services. We want to see a move, as Deputy Sherlock has it in the Bill, from competition in the market to competition for the market and this Bill would represent an important positive step on that journey to quality public services provided by the State and to remunicipalisation. Deputy Sherlock has set out the detailed provisions in the Bill. I ask the Minister of State again to reconsider this and support the Bill past Second Stage. It is a Bill that is of significant interest to constituencies across the country and so many people, like the business owner who emailed me, and many individual householders across the country are, out of frustration, addressing waste, illegal dumping and litter issues by themselves. I pay tribute to Tidy Towns organisations. In Dublin Bay South we have superb Tidy Towns organisations that I am proud to work with from Ringsend and Sandymount across to Portobello in my area to Rathgar, Rathmines, Terenure, Donnybrook and Ballsbridge. We see really important work being done by Tidy Towns organisations. They are addressing what is currently a real problem with litter collection and waste management in this city and this country. I urge the Minister of State to support the Bill on Second Stage and let us continue the debate about how we can improve services. Since we are on the last sitting day, I want to thank the Ceann Comhairle, her staff, the ushers, the security staff and all the support staff, catering staff and everyone in the House who makes our lives and work environment better. I wish all our colleagues a good recess and I hope we return refreshed and reinvigorated.

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