Mr. Liam Moloney:

Under the regulations, if a producer of farm plastic products, a company that is putting farm plastic products on the market, wants to self-comply, there is a deposit and refund scheme. I think that was the scheme to which the Deputy referred. We do not offer a deposit and refund scheme and we never have. In our system, companies that put products on the market pay a recycling levy and that is how they meet their obligations.

We are a self-funding and not-for-profit body. We generate what we need to operate and must also have an appropriate reserve. As mentioned, many times in the past when we have found ourselves in a position of having more money than we needed in reserve, we made significant charge reductions to members and farmers. That is something we hope to do in the future.

The Deputy talked about what it is costing the farmer. The average farmer pays €35 at our bring centres. That farmer has also paid a levy of perhaps €30, which has probably been passed down the supply chain. We are talking about something in the region of €60 or €65 and the farmer is getting a good service for that price. That is not only my opinion. The results every year support that. Over 40,000 farmers used our service last year and we collected 34,000 tonnes of material, the equivalent of 17 million silage bales and an 80% recycling level. That does not suggest to me that farmers feel shafted or unhappy with the service.