Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for the contribution of the plastic bag levy to the environment. It is a very good tax that is supported by everyone. While I accept and acknowledge the excellent targets of the funding the Minister of State outlined, perhaps he or his Department would consider teaching people how to recycle in their homes, schools or communities. One of the reasons people do not recycle as much as we would like is that they do not know how to. The Government could possibly introduce a school-based programme where people would go into classrooms and explain how to recycle and what recycling bins cost. Alternatively, such programmes could be based in shopping centres. This would be a good way of spending the fund and would be useful as it would educate and inform the public.

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