Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I begin my contribution this morning by acknowledging Jennifer Poole, a lady who lost her life at the weekend at the hands of her partner, a man. Once again, yet another woman has died in this country because of domestic violence and the violence of a man - her partner, someone she trusted and knew. She leaves behind her two children, family, friends and neighbours, who are all devastated by her loss. I take this opportunity to extend my deepest sympathies to her family, friends and children on their huge loss. I am glad to see that the perpetrator, Gavin Murphy, her partner, has been charged and will face the full rigour of the law for his actions.

Today marks the beginning of Reusable Nappy Week. It is quite a novel idea. Many people will have raised eyebrows - possibly some sceptical eyebrows. I would have been the same. I commend the work of my colleague on Meath County Council, Councillor Deirdre Geraghty-Smith, on her campaign on this issue. She became a first-time mother a number of months ago and, to her credit, is using cloth nappies full time. She has done much work and research on this. We are all very familiar with disposable nappies. I must put my hands up because I used these with my son. I was not educated or informed about the other options but thanks to Councillor Geraghty-Smith, I am now and it is something I would love to try if the opportunity arose again. Disposable nappies have been around since the 1960s so we have all been in them and used them but they largely comprise wood pulp, plastic, which is the key, and many chemicals used to form what is called the absorbent layer. Following a recent study of 4,000 nappies in France, manufacturers were issued with a warning by the French health agency, which found that the nappies contained elements of a dangerous chemical called glyphosate. Glyphosate is probably best known to people as the main ingredient in the weedkiller Roundup so that was certainly a shock to me. The figures are startling and speak for themselves. It is estimated that in Ireland, more than 600,000 plastic nappies are disposed of in household waste every day.This year alone, the most conservative estimates indicate that 75 million nappies could end up in household waste. That is a colossal figure. Each nappy takes between 200 and 500 years to break down in landfill and each baby is estimated to generate between 3,000 and 5,000 nappies from birth to potty. This equates to 2.5 tonnes of single-use plastic waste per child. In fact, more than half the household waste in a family with just one baby comprises nappies. Those figures floored me.

Other countries, as often is the case, have moved ahead of us. A good example is the UK, where many local authorities are proactively supporting the switch to cloth nappies by offering so-called cloth nappy libraries where parents can hire kits, running awareness campaigns, providing grant schemes and offering cash back to parents who purchase the cloth nappy system. In addition, they offer advice and support to parents. That is what is needed when starting out, to know this is doable and is not as big a task as one might think. Again, this is something I learned from talking to Councillor Geraghty-Smith and her experience over the past number of months with her baby girl.

Councillor Geraghty-Smith is a full-time working mother. She did her research, got organised and managed it. She says it is a very easy and green way of doing things. I want to raise awareness that this week is Reusable Nappy Week and make the House aware that we can make those positive changes.