Government accused of lacking political will to help those who need waste waiver for incontinence wear

Cork TD Seán Sherlock has queried why the government is not taking practical steps to help people who need waste waiver.

The Government has been accused of lacking the political will to help families who would benefit from a waste waiver for those who rely on incontinence wear.

A national waste waiver scheme has been mooted as a way of helping families facing additional charges because of the use of incontinence pads or pull-ups.

In a recent Dail exchange Cork East TD Seán Sherlock again queried why the Government is not taking practical steps to provide financial assistance to people who need it.

In response, Ossian Smyth, Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, said that since the 2017 decision to phase out flat-rate fees, the department has looked at a number of proposals to deliver support for incontinence waste, including through detailed engagement with bodies including the HSE.

He said the efforts have not been successful for reasons including the absence of a list of those in receipt of free medical incontinence wear from the HSE, GDPR issues, procurement issues, and administrative costs if a private third party were to deliver the support on behalf of the department.

He also referred to how waste collection is now carried out by a "diverse range of private operators, where the fees charged are a matter between the service provider and customer and the range of services and fees offered vary amongst providers and across the country".

"In that regard, it is apparent that a national waiver scheme could not be imposed in the context of an open market for waste collection," he said.

Other options not explored

However, Mr Sherlock said there are a number of options available to the Government to assist the families impacted — but they had not been explored.

"You can apply to the Department of Social Protection for invalidity pension, disability allowance, and illness benefit, whereupon medical evidence is required," the Labour TD.

"You could devise a similar scheme for a waste waiver where if a doctor certified that a person was in receipt of pull-ups for a child, or incontinence pads for an adult, that should be sufficient."

The minister said there are GDPR considerations when it comes to passing such information to private providers. However, Mr Sherlock said correspondence could flow through the department, which could simply corroborate any waiver without passing on specific information.

During the Dáil exchange, Mr Sherlock gave the example of a couple with two children, a five-year-old and a 15-year-old, both on pull-ups in north Cork. 

Their cost is €400 per year.

"A working family with a mortgage trying to do their best know that they will have to deal with this as a long-term issue for their children.

"They went to their local provider but the market will not sort them out because their local provider has said that this is a matter for Government. There is a Government decision on this.

"The political willingness does not seem to be there to do this and it is having a massive impact on families. What this [waiver] would do is give families who make the choice to stay at home some breathing space on their waste costs, which have increased massively in the last 12 months."