Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

My amendment No. 51 is about the right to repair, and specifically around diagnosis, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment. The amendment, which I submitted for the Labour Party, forms the basis of a Bill we were preparing to bring forward, that we say is an integral part of any sort of circular economy approach. We are hopeful that the Minister of State might agree to it in principle, or agree to look at it between now and Report Stage. I do not intend to press this amendment. I will withdraw the amendment when we come to it, and I have emailed to say that if I am not physically present that it might be withdrawn with a view to bringing it back on Report Stage.

We feel that this is a very important part of a circular economy approach, and that it would offer consumers a really tangible, meaningful, and practical application of the circular economy. All of us are very familiar with that awful feeling when we break a phone and cannot get it fixed with a local independent repair shop without losing the warranty. I use phones as one example but all of us are familiar with other instances of this. Our amendment, in a very detailed fashion, seeks to address the imbalance of power between the consumer and the manufacturer. Manufacturers are currently holding consumers over a barrel on these warranties. While we want to put more work in the way of the local independent repair shops it is also hugely important as a way of ensuring that we do not see the wastage of digital electronic equipment that currently goes on when it breaks, and that we would see a genuinely circular approach where equipment can be repaired, parts can be replaced, and we can continue as consumers to have our warranties. I am grateful to Karlin Lillington in The Irish Timeswho first drew my attention to the measures that have been introduced in the US on this, where a lot more has been done on the right to repair, and specifically of digital electronic equipment.

It is on that basis that we produced this very detailed and comprehensive amendment and we would really like to engage with the Minister of State and his officials on how the principle behind it could be brought into effect in a very tangible way to enable consumers to see how the circular economy can work in their favour.