Sinn Fein has raised concerns over how low-income households will be charged for household waste collection.

TD for Laois/South Kildare Brian Stanley, said: "We are concerned with how different households are going to be charged under this new regime. For example, low income households that may have young children or those with disabilities that may produce more waste. The last government committed to bringing in a waiver scheme for low income households but failed to do so and is not included here.

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"The Minister is only setting out certain bands for charging; he has no power to set prices because this industry has been privatised, much to the loss of the people.

"We have to question whether competition alone will keep charges reasonable. Previous governments of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens have presided over the privatisation of waste management, including landfill in this country. This should never have happened.

"We need to have drastic reduction in the volumes of waste produced by industry and at wholesale level."

(CD/MH)