Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, and the Bills Office for their assistance with the Bill, as well as Lee Daly in Deputy Daly's office and Tony Loughran in my office for their work on the Bill as well. The ability to repair a product is crucial to consumers, who are increasingly expected to replace products where a fault occurs. We have in many cases lost the ability to repair products, or have them repaired, by ourselves. Much of what we produce becomes redundant quickly and ends up in recycling centres or in rubbish tips. In Limerick, we have a pretty good recycling facility in Mungret Civic Amenity Centre but one despairs at the number of electrical items in overflowing cages and baskets there. Clearly, many of these discarded items of equipment could and should be repaired, recycled and reused.

The Bill that Deputy Daly and I are submitting creates a repairability index for common consumer goods such as laptops, washing machines and lawnmowers. While the list in the Bill is not prescriptive, it allows the relevant Minister, under section 3, to prescribe specific products or classes of product to be relevant products, thus allowing the list to expand without additional legislation. The Bill, if enacted, as I hope it will be, allows consumers to understand the ease with which products can be repaired as well as the availability of spare parts and guidance on doing so. It removes some fears and myths in that, far too often, people dump items that could be easily repaired and reused.

Everyone has a part to play in dealing with the climate emergency the world is facing. The Bill, as my party colleague Deputy Daly said, allows consumers to understand the ease with which products can be repaired, as well as the availability of spare parts and guidance and support on doing the same. It should be of great assistance to those who genuinely want to take part in the circular economy and to use items that have been repaired and enhanced rather than dumped. The Bill is a no-brainer and I hope the Government will allow it to pass in order that it can be scrutinised and enhanced, if necessary, on Committee Stage and subsequently enacted into law. The premise of the Bill, as I said, is to reduce the wastage of many popular products and devices, help extend the life of products, and contribute in a small way to climate action by extending the life of listed products and subsequently reducing the numbers of relatively new products being dumped before they can be repaired and reused.

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