Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

This is a process which will give the Green Party and their fellow travellers ample opportunity to do what they want, which is to hinder it.

There would be significant costs involved in establishing deposit and refund arrangements and it is dubious as to whether they would bring any greater benefit to the system. I would certainly be willing to examine it. One successful approach is based on the producer-funded Repak model which has worked incredibly well. Members should look at what the Repak model has done for this country, as well as the plastic bag levy. There were just 837 bring banks in 1997, when Deputy Quinn and Deputy O'Dowd's parties went out of power. There are now over 2,200 such facilities and the number is growing.

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