Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, to delete lines 24 to 26 and substitute the following: “ “microbead” means a solid plastic particle that is-

(a) not water soluble,

(b) not more than 5 millimetres at its widest point, and

(c) not less than one nanometre at its narrowest point;”.

We had a good debate on Second Stage, where we went through a lot of technical aspects of the Bill, which we have now sought to address following our engagement with the European Commission and everybody else. We have gone through the standstill period and that standstill period has been successful, so there is nothing standing in the way of our passing this legislation as quickly as possible. We have made a couple of minor technical amendments based on that interaction with the EU. Everything is still in line in terms of the intended direction for this legislation.

The first amendment is on the size and range of the plastic microbead to be restricted and it is to more closely align the Bill with the proposed forthcoming EU REACH regulations, which will restrict the intentional addition of microplastics to products. Members may remember that, on Second Stage, I said that, with our microbeads Bill, we were going further than the EU. This is to make sure that, when the EU catches up with us, we will all be in the same place. The amendment is a slight tweaking of the position.