Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy and that was one of the reasons we included other requirements of public bodies, in addition to banning single-use plastics. I refer to the inclusion of a report by the end of this year on resource use in areas such as water waste and energy. It is important that public bodies start to think about how they can reduce the extent to which their staff, clients or customers rely on plastic bottles when there could be alternatives. As far as I know, the €150,000 was all spent, but I will inquire further. Many other organisations, other than public bodies, should also engage in this initiative. I would love to see more private sector organisations getting involved in similar schemes. It is encouraging to see many supermarkets, for example, signing up for plastic pledges. It would be helpful to see fountains in supermarkets and shopping centres. There is, therefore, significant scope to roll out, as part of our waste management plan, some of these ideas that have been rightly identified by the Deputy.

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