Protection of the Environment Bill

national | miscellaneous | news report Thursday May 29, 2003 16:14 by flanagan - labour head_office at labour dot ie Ely Place, Dublin 2

Refuse charges will increase to at least €700 per household

Labour to oppose Protection of the Environment Bill

The Labour Party Spokesperson on the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Eamon Gilmore said in the Dáil today that the Protection of the Environment Bill will increase refuse charges to at least €700 per household.

This Bill transfers the power to levy waste charges from elected Councillors to County Managers. In addition it will allow Councils to refuse to collect waste from homes who have paid the charge. This change in the law is being made to facilitate huge increases in waste charges.

Some months ago, Minister Cullen told a Dáil Committee that the real cost of the waste service amounted to approximately €11 per collection per house. Over a 52 week period, this would result in an annual charge of almost €700. This Bill is being introduced to allow County Managers to increase charges to this level.

Indeed the charge may ultimately be higher than this. Under Section 30 of the Bill, the operator of a waste disposal facility (i.e. a landfill site or an incinerator, will be obliged to charge the full cost of setting up the facility, managing and operating the facility and the full cost of radiation of the facility for thirty years after it is closed. This cost will be passed on to the householder, resulting in massive increases in waste charges.

This Bill will cost the average householder in this country more than any single tax measure introduced in the last ten years. The Minister is introducing the measure today, using ‘Protection of the Environment’ as his cover, just a Minister Dempsey attempted to use educational disadvantage as the political shield for re-introducing third level fees.

The Labour Party is opposing this Bill. The charges being insisted upon by the Government are a flat household tax, which take no account of ability to pay or the amount of waste being generated. The Government is fundamentally changing the country’s waste management system. They are transforming it from a public service to a commercial business for which the public will have to pay.

This Bill means that the individual householder will have to pay for the full cost of dumps, incinerators and all of the waste infrastructure.