Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, braved the ocean waves to swim in support of taking action on plastics pollution. Next Tuesday, will the Cabinet sit down and agree to allow us to debate at Committee Stage the Waste Reduction Bill that would tackle that issue in a very significant way?

The Minister, Deputy Naughten, has been spreading all sorts of economic arguments. We want that debate at Committee Stage to allow this House decide the measures in it which are very similar to what the European Commission is calling on us to do. Why is the Government blocking it? How can the Government say that it cares for the environment and the issue of plastic pollution if it is refusing to allow this Bill to go to Committee Stage? Will the Minister bring this to his Cabinet colleagues next Tuesday and come back to the House on Tuesday afternoon to let us know whether the Government is serious about plastics or if it is just public relations?

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