Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I absolutely commit to making sure that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, expands and deepens his role in the delivery of the circular economy.

I will give a specific example of this in reality. It is subject to some controversy in the sense that I made a public comment in regard to Dublin Port last week. However, currently 35 million tonnes of material will be coming in and out of the port this year. Its expectation is that in the future we will move towards 77 million tonnes of imported and exported goods. The question I have on that is what we are going to be consuming at twice the current level in 18 years’ time. How could that possibly be in line with both European and Irish national ambition in regard to reducing the volume of materials we are using while still maintaining our wealth and prosperity as a people? I believe it is an alternative approach which sees a reduced volume of goods moving but increased provision of real welfare and wealth to our people. That is where smart modern economies are going. I use that as an example of a metric that we need to reconsider, the traditional model of ever-onward growth and consumption of materials as a measure of our success and to reduce using materials for greater prosperity for our people.

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