Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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11. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps taken in relation to EU directives on the circular economy vis-à-vis textiles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18061/25]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Will the Minister of State update the House on the progress with Ireland’s responsibilities under the EU’s waste framework directive with regard to textiles, textile recycling and textile waste?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The regulation of textiles has become a priority focus for the EU in recent years. There are two significant pieces of relevant legislation in development or recently implemented. First, since 1 January 2025, the waste framework directive requires all member states to have a separate collection system for textiles. Ireland's system consists of a network of local authority and charity bring banks, charity retail shops and private bring banks. Some retailers also operate take-back schemes in their stores. This system requires substantial enhancement to align with circular economy principles. To this end, my Department is developing Ireland's first national policy statement and roadmap on circular textiles. This document, which has been prepared with input from the Textiles Advisory Group, will set out how we enhance our separate collection system, and it will be launched for public consultation in the coming weeks.

Second, in July 2023, the European Commission proposed a further revision of the waste framework directive requiring the introduction of an extended producer responsibility, EPR, scheme for textiles. The key objective of the proposed EPR scheme is to apply the “polluter pays” principle to placing textiles on the market while creating a sustainable scheme for used textile collection, sorting, reuse and recycling. While agreement is yet to be confirmed by the European Council and Parliament, it is expected to be adopted in July and an EPR scheme for textiles should become mandatory by 2028. My Department has already started the foundational work with the sector.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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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?

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the Deputy’s work with Liberty Recycling. Since January of this year, Ireland has understood and tried to transpose the EU law that is required by every member state. We currently have a system in place for the separation and collection of textiles, and the bring banks are a significant part of that. I understand that significant improvements are required. I am aware of this due to working with local authorities and charity organisations, which report that used textile collection is currently under much strain due to adverse international trading and collection conditions. We want to find solutions to the problems and challenges that present. I know several local authorities have requested new tenders for textile collections and that is something I will be following up on.

With regard to extended producer responsibility, my Department has started work on the Irish EPR. I had an opportunity to visit Primark recently and it now has bins in each of its stores. I accept we need a more comprehensive approach.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The problem is not always collection and the EU directive refers to collection, separation and reuse. In Ireland, the vast majority of bring banks are not for separation. Liberty Recycling is the only one that separates but, even with that, the capacity is not there to deal with all of the textile waste in Ireland. We do not even have a figure for that, although we know that 1.4 million metric tonnes are exported from the EU, mainly to Africa, and it ends up being dumped in Africa. That is the scale of the problem in Europe, and we have a percentage of that in Ireland. There is an urgent need to scale up the capacity but also to make sure that when those tenders go out from different local authorities, this is not just for collection and export abroad, but for collection, separation and reuse. These have to be central.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As I said in my earlier contribution, we have drafted the national policy statement and roadmap for circular textiles, which will be important in supporting the transition. That will soon go out to consultation. On the Deputy’s point, we have a real challenge around fast fashion and how we address it. The current system needs to be enhanced. We need to continue to work with local authorities and charities but we must also be mindful of extended producer responsibility. We will be working with key stakeholders to try to resolve the challenges that we face. It is a challenge in the short term due to consumer habits and online sales. We need to ensure that within the circular economy, we can continue to enhance our circularity rating and ensure that Ireland is to the fore in this regard. I look forward to working with the Deputy on this.

David Maxwell (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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We have about three minutes. I will allow Deputy Murphy to ask his question and then allow the Minister a minute to respond. We will finish at that.