Competition authority slams government for system of waste mismanagement – Pa Daly TD
16 April 2025
Sinn Féin spokesperson for Climate, the Environment and Energy, Pa Daly TD, has urged the government to take heed of the assessment by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) that their approach to waste management “will never properly deliver for the Irish public” and the a “policy change is long overdue.”
Deputy Daly was commenting on the sale of the last publicly owned domestic waste collection service and the recent adjudication of the CCPC.
Teachta Daly said:
“The government’s privatised approach to waste management has failed.
“The latest development will see the last publicly owned domestic waste management collection service sold off and gobbled up by private companies. This move risks jobs, it risks services, and it completely fails to consider the environmental implications.
“Sinn Féin have repeatedly called for this sale to not go ahead.
“Although Minister Darragh O’Brien has the power to stop it, it looks like it will be rammed through – despite mounting criticisms of the move.
“Although the CCPC ruled that there was no reason, under competition law, that the sale could not go ahead, they attached numerous strict conditions to the sale of BNM recycling.
“Their statement highlights the serious reservations and concerns they have about the monopolisation of the domestic waste market by a handful of private companies.
“The CCPC reiterated their position that the household waste collection market is not delivering strong outcomes for consumers, that structural changes are required, and repeated their call for government to establish an economic regulator.
“This was followed yesterday by an article in the Business Post in which the CCPC Chair, Brian Mc Hugh, emphasized the benefits of state-led control and regulation.
“This reinforces Sinn Féin’s long-held position that the best deal for consumers and the environment is to bring the bins back under public control.
“I am calling on the Minister to urgently outline how he plans to address these fundamental flaws in Ireland’s waste management system.
“It is high time that government stop allowing ordinary workers, families and the environment to be the collateral damage in the unregulated and relentless pursuit of profit by a few private bin companies.”
