Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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While I fully understand that this is, if you like, an opening statement, it seems that what we are doing is providing legislation that will be the framework for the long term not the short term. In framing this legislation, we need to go beyond the ambition of setting a broad-based statement and pulling together groups which might engage on it. We have to look at the how and the wherefore of sectoral plans delivering results with a fair degree of urgency. We need to have in our own mind what some of those high-level targets are. Ending landfill could be one. I, myself, have done a report for the committee that suggests what some of the high-level targets could be. That helps one to get the buy-in for consumer, community and enterprise to move. Design thinking is crucial here. One must have some fairly stringent expectations of where we end up so that one drives the capacity to rethink the design of these supply chains. One will not get it by getting everybody into a room and hoping they will spontaneously respond. Certainly, I will be urging the committee in our response to look for some more exacting terms within the legal framework that the Department is asking us to consider.