Bin charge increases
Senator Conway-Walsh condemns proposed bin-charge increases and links them to the privatisation of waste services, while also sympathising with the Crumlin nurse’s family.
On behalf of the Sinn Féin group, I, too, extend sympathy to the family of the nurse who tragically lost her life in Crumlin hospital.
I also wish to raise the issue of bin charges and the anxiety being caused by the proposed increases. This was to be expected once the decision to privatise such an essential service was made and the chickens are now coming home to roost. Citizens need to be protected from the folly of that decision and what privatisation will bring, as happened in the case of the privatisation of eircom, the main communications company.
I draw the attention of the House to No. 6 on the Order Paper, non-Government motion No. 1 which deals with Seanad reform, the rationale for which I would like to explain. The motion seeks the establishment of a time-limited committee and commends the report of the working group on Seanad reform. In this regard, we were happy yesterday to support the Bill tabled by the Independent group. There are two key reasons we are of the opinion that a committee on Seanad reform needs to be established and given the task of coming back to the floor of the Seanad with its recommendations within six weeks. First, there are 42 new Senators in this Seanad. It is important that these new voices be heard and have ownership of the reform process. Second, there is a need for the Seanad to be distinct from the Dáil and play a key role in the scrutiny of European policies and directives, as well as the North-South initiatives that permeate the report. We agree with this, but we are concerned that the Bill does not reflect it. In particular, we are concerned about the absence of speaking rights for MEPs and MLAs and believe this issue needs to be examined. We are mindful of the major failings of all previous reports on Seanad reform which never reached implementation stage. Notwithstanding this, we believe a time-limited committee, as described in the motion, would enhance the final outcome in an inclusive and collaborative way. We, therefore, ask that No. 6, non-Government motion No.1, be taken next week.