I thank Deputy Sherlock for bringing forward this legislation to bring bin collections back to public control. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government is opposing this legislation. Fine Gael has a long history and policy of privatising public services. It has not worked in housing, water or transport and it definitely has not worked in waste management. By his own admission, the Minister of State knows there is a problem here because he would not have commissioned a report in relation to side-by-side competition otherwise. I am not sure that some of the issues the Minister of State raised could not have been teased out during pre-legislative scrutiny. Then, if they were not sorted out at that stage, the Minister of State had the opportunity to vote down the Bill but he did not even give it a chance. It has been a long-standing policy of Sinn Féin to bring waste management back to public control. Privatisation has failed ordinary people. Bin companies act like a cartel in how they raise their prices. When one company increases its price, the rest follow. I reported this practice to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, when I was a councillor in 2016, as referenced by the Deputy. Earlier this year, Panda increased its prices by 9% for customers. Ordinary people are being pushed to the pin of their collar. No one's wages have gone up by 9% in the past year so nobody's bill should go up by 9% in the same time. Some bin companies have even increased their recycling fees, as the deposit and return scheme has reduced the amount of waste they recycle. It effectively means that people are paying more for less now. We have a situation that allows multiple bin trucks to operate on the same street. On my road there could be three different companies coming down the road, sometimes at the same time. This goes against everything we are trying to achieve to make waste collection more environmentally friendly. Sinn Féin has raised the idea of taking waste management back into public control in the Dáil on several occasions. In 2019, I came in here after a by-election. I had nine sitting days before the general election was called. In those nine days I managed to introduce a Bill co-signed with Deputy Cullinane. It was a combination of the work I was doing on the council and the work Deputy Cullinane was doing in the Dáil. This legislation was to appoint an independent regulator for waste management with an aim of reducing fees. At the time, we had engagement with SIPTU and Fórsa, which backed this change in policy. The Dublin city task force also recommended a single bin operator. In 2022, Dublin City Council commissioned independent research which looked at similar-sized cities to Dublin and compared their waste management systems. Dublin was an outlier. It was the only city that was fully privatised. In other jurisdictions, cities of a similar size at least had some part of their bin collection in public control. Since bin collections were privatised, illegal dumping has been commonplace in Dublin. I am probably paraphrasing the Minister of State when he says there is no evidence that privatisation has led to more illegal dumping. That is the gist of what I thought he was saying. I can only go by what I see with my own eyes. I grew up in north Clondalkin back in 1980s. We did not have much. It was an area of disadvantage but it was a lot cleaner then than it is today. Illegal dumping has no place in our communities. People who do it need to stop because they are affecting all our communities. In response to a parliamentary question of mine, the Minister for the environment stated that over €27 million is given to local authorities for anti-dumping initiatives. In 2025, South Dublin County Council alone, in my own area, spent over €2 million to tackle illegal dumping. This money could be better used to enhance our communities. We have sports clubs and community groups that are always looking for funding. We should be able to give them this funding rather than tackling illegal dumping. Over the last number of years, the nature of what is in our waste has changed. For example, in 2012, there were no problems with nitrous oxide. However, earlier this week thejournal.ie reported that 160,000 nitrous oxide canisters end up in Irish waste facilities every year. This shows the scale of the problem. Over 13,000 nitrous oxide canisters have been collected by the local authorities in Dublin in recent years. There were 120 explosions over a two-week period in waste compactors in Ireland. This is costly and dangerous. I introduced legislation to tackle this scourge but the Government delayed it by nine months which means it will not be read again until October. We have youth health issues and environmental issues with nitrous oxide. The Government really needs to take this seriously. I gift-wrapped the solution but the Government kicked it down the road. Sinn Féin is happy to support this Bill. The process of returning waste management to public control can begin with having one company per local authority. A single bin operator per local authority would reduce the number of bin trucks on streets and should reduce the incidence of illegal dumping. This would lead to a decrease in prices, which could be set out in the tendering process. We would like to see this go further by the introduction of an independent regulator. We are drafting our own legislation that will do this, as well as the remunicipalisation of waste and the introduction of a fee waiver. The Minister of State mentioned costs and how this would be paid for. That could be part of the tendering process as well and, again, could be teased out in pre-legislative scrutiny. We would also allow for local authorities to re-enter the market. The independent regulator would set and review standards, prices for customers and the criteria for workers to be able to join a union, which is really important. Many of the bin companies are not unionised at the moment. As I said already, we introduced similar legislation in 2019. I am probably the last Sinn Féin person standing before the recess. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all the staff for their help over the year and their tireless work that keeps this place going. I hope everybody gets a chance to get out and enjoy the good weather and has some sort of a break over the summer. I will see you all after the recess.

Sentiment score: -0.06