• You are here:
• Home /
• Speeches

Speeches

Investigation into the operation by Local Authorities of Waiver Schemes for Refuse Collection Charges (20.10.2008)

Address by The Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly at Press

• First, I would like to welcome you all to today's press conference to mark the publication of what I regard as a milestone report in the local authority sector. I am grateful to the Director General and to all my staff who worked diligently in a collaborative effort with me to deliver such a clear and comprehensive report.
• My key conclusion from the investigation, which coloured my recommendations, is that the multiplicity of schemes is a shambles and that where somebody lives, or who collects their rubbish, should not determine whether they can get a waiver or how much of the charge is set aside.Turning to the report findings, I found that the wide diversity of schemes and the absence in some cases of any waiver provision to be surprising and unacceptable. To illustrate by some concrete examples: a total of seven local authorities have no waiver system at all in place on the grounds that the service is provided exclusively by private operators, others only give waivers for refuse not collected by private operators, one county has three different waiver schemes in place, while the average value of an annual waiver varied from €40 to €357.
• My attention was initially drawn to the issue in 2006, following a complaint by a public representative, on behalf of a number of householders on low income who had been refused waivers by Waterford County Council. Following a preliminary assessment of the complaint, which is being pursued separately with the Council, I decided to carry out a general investigation into waste charges waiver schemes, as operated in a representative sample of twenty-three local authorities. The main aims of the investigation were to establish the terms and qualifying criteria of the waiver schemes administered by the local authorities for refuse charges, as well as consideration of any adverse effects on low-income households of the failure of local authorities to grant waivers in deserving cases.
• The report highlights a significant social policy deficit, with local authorities increasingly driven by commercial considerations, while the needs of the poorest and least protected people in our society suffer. I invited a number of bodies to make submissions to my office on the issue. I welcome the attendance here today of representatives from the Society of St Vincent de Paul and the Senior Citizens Parliament, both of whom responded to my request and I have included their submissions in the report, along with others, to give the full picture. Their submissions highlighted, for example, the plight of pensioners and the erosion of their income by having to pay extra costs like waste charges. Some of the hidden consequences of the absence of a fair waiver scheme, available to all in need on an equal basis, were voiced. These included rubbish build-up and anti-social dumping. Also, the experience related of medical burns units in our hospitals treating increasing numbers of people on low income who turned to burning their refuse as a way out, with all the dangers associated with such activity.
• I would also like to welcome the representatives of the Combat Poverty Agency who have done some valuable work on guidelines for local authorities on implementing waiver schemes.
• The primary concern of the investigation was to highlight the unfairness in the administration of waste waiver schemes and to focus particular attention on how badly the present system impacts on people. The report sets out a series of recommendations which I believe should be implemented as a priority by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and local authorities, to address the problems.
• Given the responsibilities of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in relation to local government matters, I have recommended that the Department take a lead role in helping and encouraging local authorities by:
• carrying out a review of the administrative inconsistencies and anomalies that exist in waiver schemes throughout the country;
• devising guidelines for local authorities that will assist them in achieving fairness, equity and consistency in the administration of waiver schemes;
• addressing the legal position relating to the provision of waiver schemes where the waste collection service has been fully privatised;
• expediting consideration of the regulation of the waste management sector with particular reference to the needs of low-income households with a view to ensuring that all households availing of such services, from whatever source, are facilitated with a waste waiver scheme.

I will be asking the Department to report to me, at six monthly intervals, on progress in implementing these four recommendations.

I have also recommended that each local authority take immediate steps to:

• ensure it has in place a waste waiver scheme that caters for hardship cases in a fair, equitable and consistent manner, and
• review its position regarding clients of private operators, to ensure hardship cases are provided with relief.

I intend to ask each local authority to furnish me with a progress report on the implementation of these two recommendations within a year.

• I am heartened that the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to whom I provided an advanced copy of the report, has welcomed the report and accepted that the existing regulatory framework requires modernisation. The Department has also assured me that it will be giving the report and my recommendations the fullest consideration, in the context of the ongoing review of the regulation of the whole waste management sector.

My office looks forward to working closely with the Department and local authorities in the coming months, in delivering solutions to the unfair waivers system and to help those most badly affected.

Thank you for your kind attention

Back to contents