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

Following the enactment of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, draft regulations to introduce an environmental levy on single-use disposable cups were published last October for public consultation, together with a comprehensive regulatory impact assessment. The consultation ran for a period of six weeks, providing an important opportunity for all stakeholders to make their views known. The Department received a significant volume of responses to the consultation. In total, 2,371 submissions were received for the three strands, comprising people who drink coffee, people who sell coffee and everyone else in the cup or coffee business, registering a wide range of views on the application of the levy.

A summary consultation report was published online by the Department in December and a full report, including copies of all the submissions received, will be published shortly. The submissions received are also being used to inform an SME test recommended by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which will be published along with the results of the consultation, to show the effect of the regulatory change on businesses.

Once I have fully assessed the output from the consultation process, the regulations will be finalised, submitted to the Government for approval and signed. In recognition of the need to prepare for introducing the levy, I have committed to giving retailers at least three months from when the regulations are signed before they are applied. I will use that time to raise awareness about the levy among the public and retailers to ensure a smooth and successful introduction of the levy for retailers and consumers alike.

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