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

The regulatory impact assessment projected 200 million cups as an absolute minimum and estimates that the real figure could be far higher than that. I expect, as a result of the public consultation, to recommend some changes to what was in the draft regulations. I spoke to many café owners throughout the country to get their direct feedback. As well as waiting for people to come to me, I went to people to ask them what they thought. I believe a number of alternatives to single-use cups will emerge whereby customers who arrive in a café will be offered something else, whether that is a sharing scheme, a cup for purchase with a number of free coffees or a deposit-and-return scheme. People will not be left short. They will be offered something else if they have forgotten their cup that day. I expect the change will be similar to what happened with the plastic bag levy in that people will get used to it.

As for when it will happen, one thing that emerged from the public consultation was that cafés were asking for the longest possible implementation time, of one year or more, while the public was asking for the shortest possible implementation time and wondering why it could not be put in place the following day. The compromise will be somewhere between those two requests.

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