Ms Molly Hickey:

Good morning to the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, committee members and my fellow young people. I am a first-year college student involved with Youth Work Ireland through the youth participation panel. I am mainly going to be talking about my view on the circular economy here in Ireland.

I begin by pointing out that when we look at our circular economy and how we want to improve it, we need to look at education. More education should be provided in schools on terms like "circular economy" but also online and in the workshops for people who are out of education, because nobody can be isolated from this as it is too important for that to be allowed happen. One might ask why this is important? It is important because when I looked at the term first, I had no idea what it meant, which really upset me because how can we expect people to contribute to having a circular economy in Ireland if people do not even know what it is? To be honest, we cannot and what does that lead to? It leads to more unsustainable single-use products being created, instead of better and more sustainable products that will last longer.

This brings me to my next point. We need to educate more people on how to recycle their waste. Members are probably thinking we have definitely moved past that but we have not. Recently, I was talking to people living in my local community and they brought up a concern with me about how they did not know our recycling methods, as they are international students coming into our country, which has different recycling methods than back in their home. These people have not been shown our process of recycling waste, which results in it not being done properly and thereby contributing to more and more waste. This is a simple change that can make a huge difference and help our country to reduce its waste.

Taking all this into account, we need to look at our circular economy. We need to look at more ways we can make better products that will last longer and reduce single-use plastic to stop wasting our resources. One major way this can be done is by adding more reusable water stations in public areas. Our problem with single-use plastic is not just because people cannot be bothered using reusable bottles. It is because there are not the resources for people to use them. For example, the other day I brought my reusable water bottle that I have with me here on a day trip, but unfortunately I still had to buy a plastic one because I had nowhere to refill it when it ran out and I needed water, which is of course an essential. This is sad, this is ridiculous and most of all this is unsustainable.

With COP27 taking place next month, these are simple but crucial things that need to be considered. What is the point of us young people trying to make changes if we do not have the support to do them? I thank everyone very much for listening to what I have to say today.