Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have one last question on recycling. I am boring myself in saying this. In Galway we have come full circle. I hear the Department is looking at the ambassador scheme which was not fully drawn down. When I look at that, it is difficult not to despair. We had a pilot recycling scheme in Galway and achieved 70%. If the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment were to learn anything, it might look at what Galway achieved against the engineers' advice and that of others. They told us 45%. There were definitely serious questions about where it was going. However, it showed that people wanted to recycle and they led the way. The official response was to privatise.

I am reading about an ambassador scheme that is struggling. Nobody is drawing down the funding. The local authority had an education liaison officer who worked with the people. All of this was there. Here we are in 2018, certainly 15 or 16 years later and the officials are telling us about recycling when we already did it. A public composting facility was sold off or leased off. I will not dwell on it, but it is difficult to listen to, especially when the people have led us and shown us what was possible. If the Department was in any way wise it might go back and look at what happened then.

My final question is on the geological survey to map the country. I forget what it is called.