Ms Bernie Kiely:

As the IFFPG has pointed out, the scheme as it is running at present is taking responsibility for the vast majority of the material on the market and providing a very stable and successful system. The Department therefore has no plans to revisit the fundamentals of the legislation or the policy in that regard. The independent operators are, of course, free to operate. They are also free to charge farmers what they will, what they can. We have no control over that, we do not determine what they charge and we do not know what they charge farmers. Once they take the plastics, however, they are governed by their waste permits as to the appropriate handling and management of that waste, and it is a significant responsibility. I think, as the IFFPG has pointed out, that we are talking about a very small number of independent operators. The scheme as it is, as I said, is successful and stable, and the feedback from the farmers is very significantly positive about their experience of using the scheme. I think the IFFPG has done some surveying in that regard to provide evidence on that point.