On my behalf and that of my party, I wish to express solidarity and sympathy with the family, community and political colleagues of Ms Jo Cox, MP. The murder of a public representative in a democracy is a very rare and shocking thing. On behalf of my party-----

We will have statements on this at the Order of Business.

I did not realise that. That had not been communicated to me. Maybe we could work out arrangements for situations like this in the future. I appreciate that, a Cheann Comhairle.

I raise with the Taoiseach the anger, anxiety and great surprise at how the statutory instrument introduced by former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, last January has created chaos and mayhem within the bin industry and caused anger and anxiety among householders across the country. There have been claims and counter-claims but essentially bills in quite a number of instances have gone through the roof. In many ways, it highlights the complete lack of transparency in relation to bin charges generally. Quite a number of companies are not transparent at all in terms of their charging regime. The standard charges were increased under the guise of the introduction of the pay-by-weight system. Deputy Kelly signed in the charges on the basis that 87% of people would have their bills reduced but he indicated that the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Coveney, were caught hopping.

I do not know whether the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, discussed this with the Taoiseach last January when he signed the instrument or whether there was a discussion on it in the Cabinet because I cannot reconcile his perspective on this at that time with the subsequent view that the Government was caught on the hop by the companies and did not follow through sufficiently.

The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has brought forward a range of proposals. Members of the House and spokespersons, including Deputy Cowen, asked the Minister to engage with the companies with a view to bringing about a resolution to this debacle. Essentially, there has been a deferral of the charges regime for 12 months. I seek clarity from the Taoiseach on that. Can he guarantee that householders will not have increased bills over the next 12 months? Also, during the next 12 months, will the Taoiseach take the opportunity to initiate a comprehensive review of the current waste collection, management and recycling system and industry? There is a complete absence of transparency and there is no regulator. Will the Taoiseach consider the appointment of a regulator? There is also a lack of competition in some parts of the country while an increasing amount of illegal dumping is occurring. The next number of months should be used as an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of this sector, so I ask the Taoiseach to initiate such a review.

I thank Deputy Martin for the question. This controversy has blown up quite recently, following the statutory instrument introduced by the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly. Obviously, what the Government seeks, and most Deputies would agree with this, is that people would take the opportunity to think more carefully about the way they deal with refuse and the disposal of waste. The theory and spirit of the legislation was that, as a result of examining what should be put into a black bin, less would be put into it on a pay-by-weight basis, which would mean a reduction in charges for people. In addition, there would be better use of the brown and green bins, as the case may be. In many cases, there are shortages in capacity for landfill and the less that goes to landfill the better.

In the last couple of days, people were very concerned that their bin charges would rise to a serious extent. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, met with the Irish waste management industry and the majority of those who supply waste services and he has announced a pay freeze, with the support of the waste management companies, for the next 12 months on the basis of the current pricing plans. That means no increase in what people have paid in respect of their last bill. During the second half of 2016, the Government and the waste industry are committed to an intensive public awareness and information campaign to promote the benefits of the pay-by-weight charging model and to support customers in understanding how they can change their waste management behaviour and manage their waste costs better under the pay-by-weight system. That is in everybody's interest as well as in the environmental interest.

No later than 1 January 2017 customers will receive a dual pricing bill listing the amount of waste they are disposing of, the costs under the current pricing system and details of what the comparative cost would be on a pay-by-weight charge. They will be given the option to transition, should they so choose, to pay-by-weight charging or to remain on their current pricing plan. People have an option here to reduce the amount of waste they put in the black bin. After the transitional 12 months, the operation of pay-by-weight in the wider waste market will be reviewed to inform decisions on the arrangements beyond 1 July 2017. Also, the Minister has confirmed the commitment of the waste industry to provide a full weight allowance for the 60,000 Health Service Executive, HSE, patients supplied with incontinence wear to reduce their waste charges and the Government's provision of a 50% exemption to the waste industry from the landfill levy in respect of such waste. This point was made last week.

These are the changes the Minister wants to bring in.

In respect of the issue raised by Deputy Micheál Martin, it is valid to look at the structure and the way the management of waste is dealt with. This issue needs to be looked at. The Minister for communications, climate change and natural resources, Deputy Naughten, will be dealing with it from now on and will be happy to examine it.

Did the Taoiseach say that the hot potato has been handed to the Minister for communications, climate change and natural resources, Deputy Naughten?

Yes, it transfers across.

That is a surprise.

No, that is already in the transfer of responsibilities.

I thought that the Minister for housing, planning and local government had been handling this proactively for the past week or two weeks but the Taoiseach slipped it in there that it is now the responsibility of the Minister for communications, climate change and natural resources.

Housing, planning and local government and, obviously, energy and-----

The former Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, was adamant that there would be a reduction for 87% of households. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, has not commented on that one way or the other. The bin companies are saying it is a mathematical impossibility. The Taoiseach was in the previous Government with Deputy Kelly. Surely they discussed it and were all convinced it would bring down waste charges. The opposite has happened and the bin charges have gone way up. Deputy Kelly said the Government was caught hopping. I am trying to find out in between the two how the Government was caught hopping. Perhaps Deputy Kelly might illustrate to us in greater detail how something he introduced apparently caught everybody hopping. It caught the companies, householders and the Government hopping.

In a more serious vein, and I am serious about that one, will the Taoiseach initiate a comprehensive review of the industry because there is a lack of competition in certain places and there is a complete absence of transparency on the part of some companies in respect of their charging? Some companies are saying that the pay-by-weight system will encourage cross-contamination of waste and will interfere with and undermine the recyclable material and product that emerges from the system at the moment. Many issues have emanated from this ill-thought-out and poorly implemented statutory instrument, which seems to have been used by some companies, which engaged in below-cost selling to get into the market and to get a significant share, to raise charges excessively and use the pay-by-weight system as a camouflage to do that.

I do not think the former Minister set out to catch anybody on the hop, least of all the Government of which he was a member.

You do not know about that.

The spirit of the legislation was that by looking differently at how waste could be disposed of, the charges could be reduced. In other words, consumers or customers would have the option to examine carefully and think about how they would dispose of their waste in terms of green, brown and black bins and that on a pay-by-weight basis, charges could be reduced. Clearly, that was not what was going to happen here, which is why the Minister for housing, planning and local government met with all of the waste management companies and has agreed, with their support, a freeze for 12 months given the other issues that are there.

The fact that some waste disposal companies in a competitive sense decided to tout for commercial business by offering a below-cost service for waste disposal is a matter for themselves in terms of the competitive nature of the waste disposal industry. If they decided to provide a service at below cost, that is something they have to live with.

In respect of the structure, one could have a situation where one could tender for an area and the company that won that tender would then provide the service there. As the Deputy knows, there is a very different system in many places. Some roads would have three or four companies supplying a bin collection service. The point raised by the Deputy that there should be an examination of the entire structure is a valid one and we can initiate it.

Many people are only just waking up to the reality that the Taoiseach is back in office despite the result of the general election. This latest debacle over bin charges has been a wake-up call for many. It is also a very stark demonstration of the shallowness of the so-called new politics. The reality is that many households cannot afford these bin charges. There is nothing new, politically or otherwise, about bin companies agreeing that they will go ahead with these charges in July 2017 instead of July 2016.

There is nothing new about the leader of Fianna Fáil opting out of his partnership role to lament the bin charges fiasco even though he has yet to support measures which could annul the statutory instrument that allows these price hikes. It is nothing but the same old story.

Under the Taoiseach's watch, the then Minister, Deputy Kelly, introduced a statutory instrument which allowed for households to be fleeced by some unscrupulous waste disposal companies. At that time, the Government maintained that the new charging regime would mean that 90% of households would pay less to have their bins collected. It now turns out that, in reality, 90% of families and households will pay substantially more. The companies have agreed to put that off for one year. The Taoiseach says it is to give people more time to think about their options. That is not good enough. Citizens already struggling with the cost of living crises in respect of mortgages, rents, child care, water charges, property tax and car insurance are being hit once again and the Taoiseach advises them that he is giving them a year to think about this. It is yet another increase on top of all the other taxes, costs and charges he has inflicted on ordinary citizens in recent years. It is very clear that this waste management strategy, if it can be called that, will also impact on small businesses and the farming community and there is the real prospect of more illegal dumping across the State.

It is very simple. The regulations - part of Deputy Kelly's glorious legacy - were introduced by the stroke of a ministerial pen and they can be removed today by the stroke of a ministerial pen if that is what the Taoiseach wants. Instead of pushing this issue down the road to diffuse a potential political storm, I ask the Taoiseach to make a commitment that new regulations or legislation to deal with this debacle will be introduced by his Government with the assistance of Fianna Fáil this week.

I thank Deputy Adams for his comment. I listened to his deputy leader saying that anything that would promote the better distribution and management of waste should be supported. Everybody accepts that the less one has to put into landfill in the black bin the better and that better use of brown and green bins will follow through. Deputy Adams wants to jack up income taxes to put more pressure on working families and to have a situation where all of this comes out of general taxation. The Deputy might like to indicate what he means by that in terms of increased income taxes.

The position is that the Minister has met all the waste management companies. A freeze has been put in place for 12 months. When 1 January arrives and the dual-billing process is sent out to customers, they will be able to see the difference and compare whether the current system or the pay-by-weight system would have a better result for them, depending on what they put into the black bin. They have the option of transferring from one to the other. There are difficulties in terms of terraced houses where there is no room for a bin to go out the back such that if bags were to be done away with, it would obviously cause a problem. That is a matter that can be looked at.

In the broader context of having a more effective way of dealing with waste disposal and collection, perhaps based on a franchise per area, these are matters that should be examined. For now, customers and consumers should be very clear that the spirit of what the former Minister, Deputy Kelly, intended was not being adhered to. Ministers met the waste companies and there is now a solution in place. In the course of the coming months, reflection can be made on the waste management system generally for more effective waste collection and disposal which will reduce the impact of what is going into landfill. Deputy Adams is aware that a number of landfill sites are at full capacity and that many areas around the country now have a shortage of capacity for landfill. Everybody thinking about how they would dispose of waste generated in households will have an impact on that as well.

Deputy Adams wants to do away with all the incentives that have been there for ten or 12 years and which people are very pleased about and proud to participate in because it is good for the environment and for the extent of what goes into landfill. It is very good for people to be able to see they are making a contribution to a better country.

With all due respect, that was a rubbish answer. I asked the Taoiseach a straightforward question as to whether he would make a commitment that new regulations or legislation - in other words, a statutory instrument - to deal with this debacle would be introduced this week and he ignored that question.

The fact is that households cannot afford these additional charges. A working couple without children, currently paying by weight and who recycle and compost, will not save money under the new scheme. One bin company will increase this couple's standing charge by 108% and the annual cost for their waste services will jump from €84 to €140. That is a 66% increase. Such people do not need 12 months to think about all of that. They know where they stand on this issue.

Households understand what it means to be ripped off. If the Taoiseach is really about new politics, why does he not make a commitment to bring in new regulations to prevent bin companies from hiking up charges, this year, next year or any year after that?

It is funny that Deputy Adams mentions rubbish in talking about waste collection. I am not sure what the Deputy's intent there is. However, let me repeat for Deputy Adams-----

We have been there.

A comic.

Did the Taoiseach rehearse that?

One speaker, please.

------that the Minister has listened carefully to the genuine concerns of many people around the country about what might happen in respect of waste charges and that is why there is a price freeze for the next 12 months on the basis of the current system.

What about Greyhound? Is Greyhound covered?

That is Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's Bill.

That is why during the second half of 2016 the Government and the waste industry have committed to a detailed public awareness campaign so that people will understand exactly what options are open to them and how they can reduce their charges for waste. Rather than sending out two bills in July, which might confuse people, on 1 January next year, they will see the comparative price between the current pay regime and what they would be paying under pay-by-weight which gives them the option to choose which one they prefer. Obviously, if one can reduce one's charge by reducing the weight of material put in the black bin, then so much the better. This also takes into account the concerns that were mentioned in respect of people who have particular challenges, notably those 60,000 HSE patients who must have use of incontinence material. That is a significant understanding of the challenge that those people face.