Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I apologise for being late to the meeting. When I came in, the Minister of State was talking to Senator Lombard about the IFFPG mid-term review. One of my questions based on that concerns a letter we received from the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on 26 January. The letter stated that in the context of the mid-term review the IFFPG would submit a desktop survey of uncollected farm plastic. Has that been received? That letter was sent in January.

Some of this may have been covered as I missed the beginning of the meeting. What is the opinion of the Minister of State and the Department as to how this system is working, based on issues raised with us at various meetings of the committee? I mean the whole context of the model. We have a lot of people on to us about the system whereby IFFPG gets every penny of the forward collection, which is paying the premium when you buy the plastic. It is getting 100% of the money and its target is only 70%. What is the logic of a system like that? It is hitting between 88% and 90%, but that still leaves between 10% and 12% of the plastic out there unaccounted for and uncollected although it is paying for that. Taking all of that into consideration we still have a situation where the €3 million reserve it was obliged to have, or was part of its business model setting out, is being eaten into at a dramatic rate. There were people here before us who made and proved the argument that as a company IFFPG is trading as a going concern. Where does the Minister of State see that ending up? It seems to be going in only one direction. Every year it is eating further into that €3 million reserve and that is taking into consideration the fact that every year it is trading, by July or August at the latest, it will have received the following year's money. If I make silage today, in May or June 2024, I pay the levy on my plastic. The silage wrapped in that plastic will not be fed to my cattle until over next winter, and the plastic probably will not be brought to the collection station or depot until July or August 2025. IFFPG will have that money that far in advance but is still trading as what can only be described as a going concern. What is the Department's opinion on that? I will let the Minister of State answer those questions and I might have some follow-ups.