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

I share the concern in this area and recognise that under any regulatory impact assessment approach, there has to be a reasonable consultation, an assessment of the facts and an opportunity for people to plan and change their method of production. Even so, it seems we have a problem with certain materials being used routinely in the Irish supply chain. Some of them are simply not recyclable, while PFAS have more toxic elements to them. We should be able to move fairly swiftly to removing such elements and that is an important part of this process.

One issue raised since the discussion of our Committee Stage amendment related to the fear that when we bring in a levy on disposable cups, we will see the outcrop of pretend-disposable cups that, in fact, will be thrown away but that masquerade under the guise of being reusable. It would be interesting to hear from the Minister how an approach is going to be taken to ensure we will not fall victim to the law of unintended consequences, whereby when we identify certain categories of disposable cup and impose a levy, we will find a phoney alternative masquerading as reusable that will cause even greater environmental damage should it come into widespread use.

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