I thank Deputy Sherlock for drafting and bringing forward this legislation. The Green Party has long pushed for household waste collection to be brought back under public control. This proposal is a good example of how we might do this without maybe opting for full remunicipalisation and the risks that could entail in respect of the burden it could place on local authorities. Waste collection needs to be seen as a public service that needs to be fully integrated into our circular economy frameworks. This Bill would create a situation where we can retain an element of competition but it would be for a market rather than within a market. That would avoid a lot of the inefficiencies and risks we in the current model. The solution is to rationalise the current system, put local authorities back at the centre of waste management processes and use this to get a better handle on pricing and illegal dumping through contracts that are right for each specific area, instead of the one-size-fits-all model we have at the moment that is not actually working anywhere. The second part of this legislation, which would place a direct duty on landlords to ensure an adequate waste collection service for their tenants, is really important. This mirrors draft legislation that my colleague Councillor Janet Horner was involved with in 2024, which would have significantly helped with illegal dumping in urban areas. This Bill also tackles significant inefficiencies that emerge under the current competition within the market model. Under the current system, it is not uncommon to see several bin lorries from different companies driving down the exact same residential street on different days of the week. Under a single permit model, we would have rationalised routes that access all homes at the same time. This clearly does not make sense from either a cost or admissions perspective. It would be remiss of me not to specifically reference Dublin as I know the issues this Bill addresses are in some ways most acute in certain parts of our city. My colleagues on Dublin City Council have been doing positive work in this space. Green Party councillors in Dublin have founded and led on the litter and waste committees for the city and on funding additional resources. Some 100 extra staff have been hired to the public domain team to tackle waste and dumping and our councillors will continue to fight for a cleaner and greener Dublin. My colleague Councillor Janet Horner and our former Green Party TD Neasa Hourigan drafted a landlord waste contract Bill in 2024 to make it the landlord's responsibility to ensure that tenants have a waste contract in place. It is really positive to see that aspects of that Bill are included in the Bill that Deputy Sherlock has introduced. Councillor Horner succeeded in passing a motion in 2024 declaring a litter and dumping emergency in the inner city, and this was followed by a detailed position paper on what the future of waste management in the city might look like, several elements of which are reflected in the Bill. Again, that is something I really welcome. Importantly, that research examined best-practice examples in other cities, where each example has limitations and the approach of privatised municipal providers for Dublin has clearly failed the city, its resident and visitors. Too often, waste issues are characterised as a behavioural issue rather than recognising a poorly designed system that makes this system inevitable. Dubliners deserve a better answer than being blamed personally for the system's failure. A single waste provider for the whole of Dublin city was recommended in the past 18 months by the Taoiseach's Dublin city task force report. A report is due to be provided by the Department investigating the feasibility of this. However, as with so many of the report's recommendations, that has yet to materialise. It just seems there is no urgency behind the recommendations of the task force anymore and instead of trying to deliver it, the Government is spending time looking for a political excuse and someone else to blame for why it has done nothing. It is important to understand that a waste system that works everywhere in the country does not work in the inner city. This is due to several factors, including short-term tenancies, a high number of tourist lettings, flats, apartments, terraced houses and an overall lack of storage space provided for wheelie bins. Despite it being mandatory for households to be able to separate their organic waste, this remains practically impossible for a significant proportion of inner-city homes, as wheelie bins cannot be stored in flats or terraced homes. In the Dublin Central area, an average of 50 tonnes per month of illegally dumped waste is being removed by the council. It is a huge amount of waste, and this is more than is collected in an entire year from whole counties elsewhere in the country. Our current model of waste management is a direct contributor to this. The status quo is simply leaving Dublin communities to suffer and it is clear again that while the one-size-fits-all approach that is applied to waste collection in our country might suit some of the suburban areas, it absolutely does not suit our city centre communities. Waste is often an affordability issue as well. Not all households, particularly those in urban areas, have suitable spaces for storing wheelie bins. They have no outside spaces and, of course, they are not allowed keep them on the footpaths. This means that in many areas, bags are the notional solution but these cause issues with seagulls or foxes or are intermingled with illegally dumped bags. The net result is our footpaths are strewn with waste. Dublin City Council recently rolled out a system of waste compactors in the core areas of the city centre. These seem to have been working well and it is actually similar to what is seen in a lot of cities across the Continent. Such a system could work here and would avoid people having to store bins in their homes, which I know is a significant concern for residents in areas like Stoneybatter and Smithfield. It was something I heard about a lot during the recent by-election campaign. One of the biggest criticisms of the current privatised system has to be how ineffective it has been on keeping waste costs down. I know from my own area how many times residents have raised issues of seemingly arbitrary price increases and extremely opaque pricing structures implemented by the large waste companies. Many have also pointed to the illusion of choice in the current system, where multiple providers are all essentially providing the exact same service at the exact same price and are increasing prices in lockstep. It ends up conferring no benefits on households at all. These costs then end up disproportionately impacting families who are already struggling to make ends meet. Having children under the age of three adds to bin costs. Often, elderly families or a family with a member who has a disability have additional waste costs that all add up. A single provider would, I hope, allow local authorities to apply downward pressure on prices and keep them consistent for the duration of a multi-year contract with that particular waste provider. I again thank Deputy Sherlock for bringing forward the proposed changes outlined in the Bill. We know this does not end here. A lot more work needs to be done to deliver a system that is simpler for users, incentivises and helps a greater volume of recycling and waste recovery and will ultimately lead to a greener environment for all our communities, both urban and rural. On a final note, a Cheann Comhairle, I give my thanks to you, all the staff in Leinster House and all the ushers and caterers for their work over this term. I know Leinster House does not shut down for the next two months but I hope the pace will be a little less onerous and people are able to get a break.

Sentiment score: -0.09