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

Yes. We intend to introduce a circular economy Bill, which will have a whole range of provisions to help to reduce the amount of materials we are dumping or seeing going to waste. I fundamentally agree with Deputy Fitzmaurice. When I was originally a city councillor in Dublin, I remember the shock of realising that one third of our landfill then was demolition waste. It was often very good, expensive, and carbon-intensive products, which we need to reduce, reuse and recycle. It is going to be at a scale beyond compare.

The waste action plan has been introduced. It includes 200 measures that are very practical, very deliverable and we are systematically delivering. The Minister of State with responsibility in the area, Deputy Ossian Smyth, is delivering on this. We are starting to see it happen in how we recycle more. All soft plastics, for example, can now be put into the green bin. Demolition waste is an area that often would not get the same attention because it not household waste. I agree with exactly what Deputy Fitzmaurice is saying. We need to switch so that the materials used in building are recycled, reused and reduced.

I will give an example of the scale of the change that needs to be made. I had a meeting with Dublin Port recently. One measurement shows that some 97% of Ireland's roll-on roll-off port traffic comes in through Dublin Port. It is huge. So many of the goods we consume come in through that route. Dublin Port has said that Ireland will go from 35 million tonnes up to 70 million tonnes of imports. I asked myself what it was that we would be consuming twice the amount of? How is it that in this inexorable world there is a 2% or 3% expected growth every year in the use of materials? I said to them we need to review it and need to look again at the whole strategy of this ever-increasing growth in materials. We need to dematerialise development. In the building sector in particular we need to look at recycling and using materials, in a safe way and subject to proper environmental standards that saves us money, reduces the amount of waste, reduces the amount of imports and reduces the carbon.

"Yes" is my answer to the Deputy. Deputy Fitzmaurice is exactly right about the direction we need to take. I look forward to working with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, and the Department, to introduce the sort of measures that Deputy Fitzmaurice has spoken about.

It is not just about using the same materials. In building construction we need to switch to wood. I believe that laminated timber will allow us to replace a lot of the concrete and cement. It is not just about reducing the use of existing materials. It is also about changing the materials we use. That would be another way we could change from this big consumption and never-ending use of resources to switching to better ways.

See this speech in context