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

It has been very hard to tackle those problems for local authorities because they have been prevented from gathering evidence by legal constraints due to privacy concerns and the general data protection regulation, GDPR. They have found it difficult to get the evidence that is required in order to bring a case against the people who are carrying out that crime, which affects us all. We have had to balance in those provisions the right to privacy, on one hand, and the right to live in a clean environment on the other. The result will be a more circular economy.

The electricity amendments are straightforward. They are required because of a European directive. We received a notification reminding us we have to include them. They are a good thing. They allow local communities to take part in the electricity market. They can generate and store electricity, and manage demand. For example, a group of farmers can come together and take part in the electricity market, which they were not allowed to do in the past. We have set it in such a way that those farmers do not have the same burdensome amount of bureaucracy to go through as would be the case for the ESB or somebody else. That is what these amendments are for.

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