Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

They can use that as a coupon online on their next shop. Another suggestion was that a register of those who cannot return their bottles and cans could be drawn up, a regular collection organised, a receipt issued and the people would be able to submit that receipt to Revenue for reimbursement, similar to how receipts for petrol and diesel under the disabled driver and disabled passenger scheme are submitted and refunded. I think that one can be resolved by Re-Turn working with the various shops. There is precedent for these types of schemes in other European jurisdictions. I am told the scheme in Denmark has been operating successfully for 20 years, and it operates something like the Revenue return, where you submit your receipt and get your money back.

The machines being inaccessible is going to be more difficult to address, because the machines obviously cost a lot of money and are already in place. I do not know how many have been rolled out. I think it is approximately 2,000, but I am not sure of that figure. I am not sure if any of them are accessible. None of those I have seen locally are. They have to be addressed. It seems an awful waste of money that they were not made accessible to all from the start. I do not know if the company did proper consultation because that issue would have been raised with it. We had issues with ATMs that were too highly placed in the wall and it had to be made sure going forward they were all at a lower level to facilitate all users.

The Minister of State spoke about talking to Re-Turn. I know someone who contacted it, was not getting very far, asked to speak with someone in management, and was told that management does not engage with the public. I do not know if that is the right attitude either. The Ministers involved with this say we have to green-proof all our policies, and I absolutely agree with that, but I think our Ministers need to disability-proof their policies as well, going forward.

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