Results 41-60 of 2,753 for speaker:Ossian Smyth

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: People go around the supermarket and cannot tell one product from another. How do they read the prices that are on the products in front of them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The reverse vending machine is-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The reverse vending machine is actually a piece of equipment in a supermarket that people can use more easily than selecting a product or determining the price of a product.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: It is something that is being used in practice, but if we can make it better and if it is felt that the machines should be making an audio noise to let people know what is going on or they should have a Braille indicator on the outside, that would be one thing. The blind people I spoke to cannot read Braille. It is not a universal thing among people who are blind. Everybody's disability is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: A consultative forum for disability has been set up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I am not aware of whether it has. I would have to ask Re-turn. I speak to Re-turn weekly. I can ask it on behalf of the Deputy.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: It is a measure of availability or uptime, of whether the machine can be used. The error message is sometimes misleading, in that it can say that the machine is broken when it is actually just full or needs paper to print receipts. The Deputy is asking how we can go from 86% to 95%, which is the normal amount. First, the retailers are on a learning curve about how frequently they have to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: This will help. On 1 June, it will be illegal to display a product on the shelf or to offer a product for sale that does not have the logo on it. Currently, we are in a period when businesses can keep selling off their old stock. On 1 June, though, every drink we buy, from 150 ml in size to 3 l, has to be returnable. That will make it a much simpler-to-understand scheme and create less of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: The machines in my local supermarket are in every language, including Irish. I have spoken to Re-turn and asked it to ensure that the machines are working in Irish as well as the other languages commonly used in Ireland.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I do not have an overall picture. The Deputy raises a reasonable point. We fund local authorities' anti-dumping initiatives. We provide more than €3 million a year. I can ask the local authorities to report back to me on the volume of material they are removing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: One of the things we did last year was that, on 1 July, I brought in a rule requiring all commercial facilities to have a biowaste bin. Up to then, a large proportion of businesses simply had one residual waste bin and were not segregating their waste at all. They are all now required to segregate. Second, on 1 January, I made it mandatory for all waste collectors to offer brown bins to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Definitely. Thank you.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: I will address the Deputy's question about the deposit return scheme and his constituent who found that most of his containers were rejected. This is an aspect of the transition period, when retailers can still sell products that do not have a deposit logo on them. The two elements of customer dissatisfaction are bottles being rejected and having to bring them home and, second, the machine...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: It is currently the law that manufacturers must provide spare parts. The Deputy told me that he could not find a part for his fridge-freezer. I do not know how old his fridge-freezer was but for current products, manufacturers must provide spare parts and service manuals. The Ecodesign Directive came in a few months ago. As I do not have those details to hand, I can send the Deputy the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: Does the Chair mean a community anaerobic digester?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: It is already happening. FoodCloud and organisations like that are all about building networks of people who have something they do not want and people who want it in return, whether they want it as feedstock for their anaerobic digestion or as food they can eat. FoodCloud's technology platform is about connecting people who are in surplus with people who are in deficit and in matching...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Circular Economy: Discussion (30 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: If anyone is interested in any social enterprise and wants to try doing anaerobic digestion locally in their community, they can apply to do it through the circular economy innovation grant scheme and we will consider that.

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: From the Seanad (24 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: These amendments create a new Chapter 1 to the new Part 4 within the Gas (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. These provide for the transfer of Maritime Area Planning Act functions from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. They preserve work completed to date on the south coast DMAP. The...

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: From the Seanad (24 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: That is a very reasonable point. I am glad the committee met with the Department to discuss this. The Government is aware it is critical there are sufficient staffing resources to provide for this new function, the designation of specific DMAPs, and that An Bord Pleanála has sufficient staff to carry out its function. It needs a whole set of new staff who have the qualifications and...

Gas (Amendment) Bill 2023: From the Seanad (24 Apr 2024)

Ossian Smyth: These amendments create a new Chapter 2 of the new Part 4 within the Gas (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. These directly amend the Maritime Area Planning Act 2021 to remedy issues related to the making of the south coast offshore renewable energy designated maritime area plan, DMAP, in the absence of a statutory marine planning policy statement and provide a mechanism allowing...