Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Deputy should bear in mind that the current technical capacity was not in place previously. The scheme was only introduced in June 2024.

The company had to establish a supply chain to strategically invest in a facility of this type. Thanks to the DRS, we now have a supply chain and market conditions that are favourable and make economic sense to establish a facility like this. We are all in agreement that we need develop it, but this was not a policy failure. The initiation of the scheme has provided huge benefits, and we know that from many litter studies around the country. Indeed, there is a current supply chain where 33% of all PET is recycled in Ireland currently. We have to look at how we can keep the remainder on the island and ensure it goes back into a more circular system bottle to bottle.

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