Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Having a short time to speak on this Bill, I thought it might be good not just to recycle what everybody else has to say but to take one minute of biological time to reflect on the history of the Earth. The planet is 4,600,000,000 years old. If we condense this inconceivable time span into an understandable concept, we can liken the Earth to a person of 46 years. Nothing is known about the first seven years of this person's life and only scattered information exists about the middle span. We know that only at the age of 42 did Earth begin to flower. Dinosaurs and great reptiles did not appear until one year ago, when the planet was 45. Mammals arrived only eight months ago. In the middle of last week, man-like apes evolved into ape-like men and at the weekend, the last ice age enveloped the earth. Modern man has been around for four hours and during the last hour, man discovered agriculture. The Industrial Revolution began one minute ago and, during the 60 seconds it has taken me to read this, man has turned the Earth into a rubbish tip.

I was a teacher for 35 years. As Deputy Butler says, the children in our schools know about the three "Rs" but they are not the ones many of us learned about - reading, writing and arithmetic. For them, the three "Rs" are reduce, reuse and recycle. I and my party, like the many community and environmental initiatives, tidy towns, green flag schools and so on all support recycling and reduction of our man-made waste. We need to take greater steps than ever before to minimise that waste and maximise our recycling rates.

The polluter pays principle is always going to be the cornerstone of waste management plans, as I said last week. While I support this principle, there is an even greater need to recognise that business cannot continue to heap that responsibility on the end user. The Bill is short in detail on how other policy proposals can and should be implemented, as well as the role of all stakeholders. I am not going to bore the House with my proposals. Many Members will continue to recycle many of them. I am prepared to work and to encourage all to share the burden of responsibility. We must find new and innovative solutions to ensure that equality is brought to the way in which we manage waste disposal.

No party or person has a monopoly on the issue of achieving our goal. Surely collective responsibility can save the day. I came into this House to play new politics. I will play my part in trying to find solutions to this problem.

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