Mr. Liam Moloney:

The escalation of costs is the reflection of a very difficult market situation. Unfortunately, the only way we have been able to deal with that situation in the last few years is to increase costs. We spend everything that we collect in a given year on collecting and recycling farm plastics waste.

Incidentally, this particular scheme does not cost the taxpayer a cent. It is a self-funding scheme. Again, I must go back to the point on the service that the farmers are getting. Every year, we collect a massive volume of plastics from farmers throughout the country. Farmers support the service. We have the support of the farm plastics industry. As I have said, we are sympathetic to the situation in which the independent collectors find themselves. However, we cannot assist them, because if we do, we are working against our own scheme.