Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the recent visit by the Minister of State to Shabra plastics facility in my own constituency. Regardless of the constituency it is in, I am sure from his engagement as local Oireachtas Members will have heard that he is bound to have been astounded by the facts as they are. A company that is in Ireland has to import PET plastics in order to remain viable, while Irish waste collectors are exporting significant tonnes of that same product even though they are subsidised by the Irish taxpayer through Repak.

There are a couple of things the Government has the power to do. The first is to introduce a levy on the use of virgin plastics, something other EU states have done, but as with previous questions, the answer here is that we have to wait for an EU-wide response. In many cases when things affect ordinary individuals the Government has no problem acting unilaterally and swiftly but it seems that when things impact on big global companies there is a reluctance.

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