Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

I agree with all Deputy Fiona O'Malley said. No party here has a monopoly in this area. My contribution is based on facts because the Government has produced good results. I welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how environmentally aware are the Government's policies.

More than anything else, this debate affords the public the opportunity to see clearly that environmental issues are not the preserve of an individual party. Over the past nine years, and in less time in some cases, Fianna Fáil, with its partner in Government, has implemented a raft of successful environment initiatives that are measurable in their effects. Over its period in office, the Government has made key decisions concerning the environment and renewable energy which will serve to protect our environment for future generations, and that is what we are about.

These decisions have been made at a time of unprecedented growth in our economy, which most Members have acknowledged in the debate. Less than a decade ago, we recycled less than 10% of our municipal waste but, by 2004, this had climbed to 34%, approaching the EU average, at a time when the workforce increased dramatically. How does this square with the Opposition's contention that the Government has failed to divert waste from landfill?

We have almost reached our 2013 national recycling target of 35% while we have been particularly successful in recycling packaging waste. Between 1998 and 2004, the number of bring banks and recycling centres almost doubled. The Government has committed more than €90 million to recycling and recovery facilities since 2003 and the number of facilities has continually increased as a result. The majority of households have separate bin collections for recyclables and local authorities are increasingly providing brown bins for the kerbside collection of household organic waste. In my constituency, South Dublin County Council received a huge response from the public to the provision of home compost bins.

The Government's adoption of the polluter pays principle rewards those who recycle. Hundreds of thousands of people share my view that recycling and other environmental activities are positive acts of citizenship. In shaping our polices, we have been meeting the ever growing demands of citizens and consumers for the Government to enact creative policies and legislation that rewards modes of living that are sustainable environmentally. In 1997, only 70,000 homes had kerbside collection. By 2003, this figure had increased to more than 506,000 and the number is set to increase rapidly.

The Government is finalising proposals for a new scheme to deal with scrap cars and other vehicles so that they can be disposed of responsibly and in a sustainable way. Fianna Fáil and its Government partner took the decision to place a levy on plastic bags. Does the Green Party opposite recall a time when plastic lay strewn across the countryside along roadsides and in fields?

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