Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies. I have been in Monaghan on a number of occasions in the past year. I met Deputy Carthy's brother in Carrickmacross. I asked my Department to engage directly with Shabra Plastics some time ago. They have been engaging and that will continue. In general, our facilities infrastructure for recycling plastics in Ireland is not well developed. One of the consequences of this Bill is that there will be a greater supply of segregated material as a result of directing better streams and better segregation, particularly from the business sector. There will be more material available, which I expect to facilitate more plastic recycling and other types of recycling, including food recycling, throughout the State. That will help. I am, of course, always happy to listen to and engage with any company that is having difficulty, and particular in this sector.

The amendments which relate to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, are directly consequential to changes to the Planning and Development Act 2000 that happened last year. They are a necessary corollary. They are needed now because of the emergency legislation to ensure we do not have power cuts. That is why they are included here.

Deputy Bríd Smith asked what is the connection between CCTV and the circular economy. The connection is that if an illegal commercial operator is being paid money to dispose of waste material by throwing it into a field instead of bringing it to a recycling bin, it is avoiding the circular economy. Littering and commercial waste dumping are problems that are a facet of the circular economy.

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