Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for this good opportunity to talk about the circular economy. It is a very interesting subject. The circular economy concept deals with everything. It has a huge remit, including talking about recycling and reusing. It is an extensive remit, so it is good we have a Minister of State to do this properly now, because we have been struggling for years while looking at Germany, and places like that, doing things very well and wondering why we have not been doing it here. It is great to finally see things moving in that direction here.

On the can and bottle return scheme, I have a few queries. Is it 2,500 units and this is commencing in February 2024, or where exactly are we at with this scheme? Have we got a definite timeline? Where can I find information on the grant scheme, up to €6,000, that the Minister of State mentioned for small businesses? A few people have asked me about this scheme. I was thinking of trying to work with the GAA to try to get these machines into the hurling pitches and sports grounds. These are a huge cause of rubbish at games, especially cans and bottles. The GAA tries its best to have bins, but the money-back aspect will be a great attraction and will make money for the GAA, which is always trying to fundraise. It will be the same for other sports as well.

From the Department's research and findings on the circular economy, what is the biggest thing we need to look at? The Minister of State mentioned construction waste. Returning to the subject of local authorities and waste facilities, it sounds like we need to do more, expect more or ask more of the local authorities if we want to be successful with the circular economy. There is the example of Laois County Council letting all the waste from the big festival I am not allowed to mention go to landfill. That local authority is obviously okay with thousands of tonnes of waste. It must be pretty cheap for the person undertaking to be able to do it. I am also wondering about the waste management facilities. I genuinely think we should create more jobs for people whose task it would be to facilitate people coming onto sites to take away stuff. It would have to be done in some organised way, but this is happening in other countries as well. I refer specifically to timber, metal and materials like that.

Have we got a timeline for the green public procurement policy? I think that what the Minister of State is trying to do is phenomenal but this touches everybody. It involves every Department. I would love to see how we are going to get Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and the local enterprise offices to take this initiative on board. I would also love to see how we are going to get the local authorities to take it on board. I know they are getting new climate co-ordinators now. Will the circular economy strategy be coming into this new policy in respect of the climate? The question from Deputy Bruton was interesting concerning where the climate action plan and the circular economy strategy fit into each other. I say this because we need the local authorities to take the circular economy seriously as well. When they are developing their climate action plans, we hope to God they are taking the circular economy into account because waste reduction is a huge part of our carbon footprint too.

I want to leave the Minister of State time to answer, but I also wish to ask about the education and training board, ETB and the course being run in Dunshaughlin. Consideration is being given to rolling it out. If a circular economy fund exists, is this something we could look at to recognise the need to roll this type of course out across the country in all the ETBs?

Bike repair persons and mechanics are in short supply. Perhaps this is something we should work with the ETBs on. I am not sure what the Minister of State's remit is on this. I do not want to put too much on him. Much work needs to be done for the circular economy to be embedded across the various Departments. What is the level of engagement from other Departments that are responsible for ETBs and local authorities? If we are taking the circular economy seriously, it needs to be widespread.