Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

For the record, I am the chairperson of the drug rehabilitation charity, Liberty Recycling. It collates, sorts, recycles and reuses textiles, so there is an interest there. I was put on that body by the Ballyfermot drugs task force many years ago. One of the issues that has come up is that there is a lack of capacity in Ireland to deal with textile waste and we need to accelerate that, as the Minister of State acknowledged. There is the European Union waste framework directive and also extended producer liability, but this does not always follow the “polluter pays” principle and there is sometimes an approach of fines or levies. There needs to be some way of ensuring that the industry - those who are involved in recycling and reuse - has the capacity to address this, which means investment or grants from the State. What progress has there been on those issues?

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