Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Basically, I am in agreement with Deputy Bruton regarding the compilation of many of these products and the materials used. I will speak to the three amendments together. They are from the same area of the Bill on page 16, just on different lines. Ultimately, this is about stitching in a kind of a polluter pays principle. My big concern is potentially seeing manufactured products such as single-use cups that are not actually reusable in the long term or are keepable by the consumer. We are walking ourselves into a bigger problem here. We have to be cautious, particularly in respect of amendment No. 35. The Bill currently provides for a sum of not “less than €0.20 or more than €1.00”. I am a little bit dubious about whether we should be so prescriptive in primary legislation. However, that said, we should perhaps put in what is in the amendment, which is “less than €.01 or more than €1.00, which would be determined by the total percentage of plastic content within the material of the single-use item.” We have to be conscious that manufacturers may look to substitute for alternative goods, which in the long run is actually not environmentally good, and was said earlier, may have unintended consequences. I ask the Minister of State to consider those amendments, along with amendments Nos. 34 and 36.