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

The unrecycled plastic tax on packaging waste is calculated by finding the quantity of plastic packaging put on the market and then subtracting out the quantity that was recycled. I will get the Deputy an answer for who the authorities are who calculate those statistics. If it is not my Department it is probably the Environmental Protection Agency, the Central Statistics Office or somebody.

On the question of a virgin plastic tax, we are looking into that. We do not have to wait for EU approval. What is being imported into Ireland includes large quantities of recycled material as well as virgin plastic. We have both coming in which hardly makes any sense. I am glad to see what Shabra is doing. It is an Irish company that is making a profit and one of the only companies that is reprocessing plastic in Ireland. We will do everything to make sure companies like that thrive in the future.

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