Mr. Liam Moloney:

On the first part of the question, yes, we collect 100% of the levy and, as the Deputy said, the recycling target is 70%. However, last year we collected 80% of what our members placed on the market so we collect in excess of the target. As the Deputy is aware, the last few years have been very difficult in the recycling market. It has been extremely expensive to send the plastic for recycling so we had use all that money to cover those additional costs. We have a track record of passing any cost savings we achieve because of a good market situation back to farmers and members in the form of reduced charges. For example, in the period 2011 to 2013 we reduced farmer charges by 40% and I think we reduced the levy almost 30%.

On the collectors operating outside our scheme, we do not support them because they are operating outside our scheme and it would be counterproductive for us to support them. One of the essential elements that contributes to the success of our scheme is the fact we contract our collectors. They collect exclusively for us and do not compete with each other so they can concentrate totally on quality of service provided to farmers. I should say any collector can participate in our tendering process which takes place every five years but the fact we have contracted, approved collectors means we can guarantee the same quality of service from one county to the other, from one year to the next and also that farmers are charged the same price. For example, a farmer in County Donegal will get the same quality service and be charged the same price as one in County Wexford.

On the Deputy's last point about supporting Irish recyclers, last year we sent over 34,000 tonnes of material for recycling and over half of that went to Irish recyclers. We have a policy of supporting Irish recyclers if they are fit for purpose and if they are in any way competitive on price. It makes sense for us to support Irish recyclers and we want to support the development of an Irish recycling infrastructure.