Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)

We are absolutely committed on this side of the House to moving to recycle more plastic in Ireland. We need to be honest about the current reality that the waste management sector, including plastic recycling, operates in a global market and that a large part of the plastic recycling collected, including under the deposit return scheme, is traded internationally, based on volume and quality and on economic viability. That is why we introduced the enhanced producer responsibility schemes such as Re-turn and Repak. In fact, Repak provides subsidies of €100 per tonne for plastic reprocessed in Ireland. We certainly recognise that we need to do more. The Government is very much focused on solutions. We are looking to incentivise the building of the infrastructure and building the partnerships needed to ensure Ireland leads the way in regard to waste management, especially for PET and plastic bottles.

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