Mr. Séamus Clancy:

Following on from what Mr. Burke said, we have a shortage of bottle banks and recycling facilities in the country. The 1,848 we have represent a ratio of 1:2,004, while the norm is 1:1,000 in continental Europe, though not in the UK. Leixlip is a good example, where 15,480 people live but there is one bottle bank. We have struggled to push local authorities and producers for more bottle banks and we hope the committee can take this on board.

Repak would welcome the committee taking on board Mr. Hogg's recommendations. It is in recommendation No. 10 from his 2009 report. If the committee looks at the executive summary produced by Dr. McCloughan, it will see that they are practically identical or compatible in terms of the detail that should be looked into so if the committee is going to look at this in detail, it should make sure a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis is carried out in conjunction with dealing with and answering the questions they pose. That would be a great starting point.