Waste Management (Single Household Waste Collection Service) Bill 2026: Second Stage [Private Members]
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-16
============================================================

Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo

I thank all the Deputies who contributed to today's debate. I acknowledge and appreciate the thoughtful and constructive manner in which this debate has engaged with a really important issue. The one broad consensus and fundamental point that has been raised is that we all want a household waste collection system that is affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable but also has the capacity to support Ireland's transition to a more circular economy. We want to continue to invest in ensuring we have cleaner communities and higher recycling rates. Deputy Sherlock made that point. We want to reduce illegal dumping and indeed we want a waste service that meets the needs of our householders, communities and businesses.
We also want to see a well-designed waste collection system that not only delivers environmental benefits but also provides householders with the opportunity to reduce their own household waste costs through reducing residual waste, correctly segregating recyclable materials and correctly segregating organic materials. All this can contribute to minimising disposal costs while contributing to our circular economy objectives.
I acknowledge Deputy Sherlock bringing the Bill forward. It provides us with the clear and genuine desire to improve the household waste collection system and to address the concerns that many have in regard to service provision, affordability and environmental outcomes. Those concerns are legitimate and deserve careful consideration. I also acknowledge Deputy McAuliffe for the constructive points he made.
As I outlined, however, the Government does not believe this Bill represents the appropriate means to address those challenges. As I said, the central proposal contained in the Bill is to replace the current household waste collection market with a mandatory franchise model. That is a really significant structural reform that has potentially far more implications for householders, local authorities, waste operators and the wider circular economy. That is precisely why the Government is opposing the Bill. It relates to the requirement for robust evidence, which involves looking at the pros and cons. I genuinely do not believe a CCPC report or a local authority report has that robust, evidence-led, fact-finding analysis.
As I said, the Government commissioned the independent report and study to examine the feasibility of transitioning Ireland's household waste collection system from the current side-by-side system to a more franchised model. That work examines the environmental, economic and operational implications and considers the experience of other jurisdictions and specific circumstances that apply here in Ireland. Importantly, the purpose of that study is not to validate a predetermined outcome. It is to provide an objective evidence base upon which further policy decisions can be made. Regarding the wider objectives, namely, to deliver better environmental outcomes, support householders and encourage investment, we need to continue to ensure we have investment in more innovative recycling centres. We have a lack of capacity so we need to continue that, and investment certainty is really important in that regard but also to enable Ireland to meet both our national and European obligations, which are far reaching. These will all benefit from a stable and predictable policy framework. That certainty is really important as we want to continue to invest in our waste collection system.
I again thank Deputy Sherlock for bringing the Bill forward and look forward to continuing our engagement with Members of this House. I thank the Ceann Comhairle, members of staff and everyone in Leinster House for their work over the past number of months. I wish them a very happy summer and wish the Mayo team, its manager Andy Moran and all the supporters who will travel up to Croke Park Sunday week for the All-Ireland final well. It will be a very exciting day and we hope they can deliver this time. I am sure we will end that 75-year famine.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:17+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-16