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

I welcome the amendment, given the review will be integral if we are to have a successful programme. I again urge that the reporting under this be integrated with the climate reporting, which is overseen by the Department of the Taoiseach. This would give an additional impetus to not only the reporting process but also meeting the targets set out for the reporting.

I refer the Minister back to the approach in section 10, whereby the measures to be adopted under the circular economy are to be developed by the EPA. The sole element of force in the EPA's armoury seems to be the furnishing of a copy of its programme to other public bodies, but I think there is a weakness there. If the EPA comes up with good actions and it is merely furnishing a copy of its programme outlining them, that could involve just sending an email. The agency does not have sufficient bandwidth, nor is that a sufficiently effective tool even if it did. If the Government is coming back with legislation, we need to find a better way of developing the actions that will achieve these targets, using a broader range of expertise and putting obligations on Departments and Ministers, as the Government has done in developing some of these targets. We should be forcing the process of adopting circular thinking into every Department of State and not have it hived off in the EPA sending emails, perhaps forlornly, to other public bodies.

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