Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Several of the schemes and programmes I outlined impact clearly and directly on rural economies. I draw attention to the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022. There are a few points worth drawing out. The Act provides for the power to introduce new environmental levies on single-use disposable items such as coffee cups and food containers, together with a levy on waste recovery activities. These new levies, together with existing plastic bag and landfill levies, will be paid into the new circular economy fund. This funding in particular holds a lot of promise for communities, including rural communities across the country, as well as social enterprises operating in rural communities. There is a circular economy strategy at the moment and a plan to update it. The new circular economy strategy will set out targets for specific sectors of the economy, including reductions in material resource consumption, increased levels of repair and reuse and increases in the use of reusable products and materials. Importantly and specifically, balanced regional and rural development will be a theme of the new circular economy strategy.

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