Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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1467. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his plans to introduce support for persons that have lifelong or long-term medical needs (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35098/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Since mid-2017, a range of charging options have been operated, which encourage householders to reduce and separate their waste, and provides flexibility to waste collectors to develop various service-price offerings that suit different household circumstances. Mandatory per kilogramme "pay by weight" charging was not introduced. ​A Price Monitoring Group (PMG) was established in mid-2017 to monitor the on-going cost of residential waste collection to homeowners across Ireland as the "flat-rate structure" was being phased out. While fluctuations in prices and service offerings have been observed, the overall trend has been relative price stability.

My Department has engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representative organisations and public bodies, in an effort to see how best to provide a financial support to persons with long-term incontinence with respect to the disposal of medical incontinence wear.

While there are complex issues at play in this area, which are understandable given the sensitive nature of the medical data in question, my Department is continuing to examine options to address this issue.