James Bannon (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, to the House to debate the very important issue of waste management.

Urban and rural areas of the country are choking on waste. It is imperative that the Government finally takes responsibility for its actions and ensures that our environment is handed on to future generations intact and enhanced. The issue of farm plastic raises questions as to the Government's commitment to the effective disposal and recycling of rapidly increasing business generated waste. It is totally unacceptable that the Government is washing its hands of the issue of farm plastic, especially when it has turned a blind eye to the importing of this material from Northern Ireland, which is not liable to the recycling levy.

The importation of plastic from the North has totally undermined the scheme here and the Government must now take action to address this problem. Farmers have already paid up front for this service and are bearing the brunt of the Minister's mismanagement of this particular issue. There is a vast tonnage of plastic still uncollected on farms, even though more than €3 million has been paid for its collection by farmers. This plastic, used for storing silage during winter months is building up throughout the country, creating a 23,000 tonne environmental time bomb and in many cases jeopardising farmers' REPS plans. Farmers at my clinic in Longford and throughout the constituency every other week criticise the Government for its inaction.