46. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he, or his senior officials, have had any meetings with National Waste Collection Permit Office since March 2025; the issues discussed at any such meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65950/26]

The National Waste Collection Permit Office (NWCPO), hosted by Offaly County Council, is the designated Nominated Authority for the processing and review of all waste collection permits issued within the State.

My Department is in regular contact with the NWCPO including meetings, fora and steering committees to discuss topics including, but not limited to, the operation of the waste collection market in Ireland, Waste Recovery Levy collection, and implementation of relevant actions in the Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy.

For example, my officials were part of the steering group for the study commissioned by the NWCPO, into incentivised charging in the waste collection market, with the purpose of examining what changes could be made to the permitting system for waste collectors to fully incentivise waste prevention and improved source segregation practices by their customers to minimise their waste collection bills.

An integral part of the role of the NWCPO is collecting and reviewing the annual returns of each authorised waste collection company to ensure continuing compliance by operators with the conditions attached to the various waste collection permits and to monitor how the waste collection market more generally is operating.

These permits include a requirement that waste collection charging systems should incentivise customers to source segregate their waste. Terms and conditions of individual waste collection contracts, including pricing plans for the provision of bins, are matters between the waste collection companies and their customers, subject to compliance with the terms of their NWCPO permit. All such permits can be viewed in full on nwcpo.ie.