Latest: Dáil votes to establish 'watchdog' for bin charges

Latest: The Dáil has voted for a waste collection pricing “watchdog”, as the row over proposed new bin charges escalated.

Update 10.30pm: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been forced to back down and announce plans for a waste collection pricing “watchdog” in a stop-gap measure designed to side-step a growing political crisis of the Government’s own making, writes Fiachra O Cionnaith.

The Dáil voted in favour of the move tonight, despite Fianna Fáil warning that the failure to appoint a full-blown regulator immediately means the new group may become a “toothless poodle” and claims waste firms are already imposing €25 fines on customers to ensure their profits rise immediately.