Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not think we will have time for debates. Perhaps we will have time. I want to raise one important issue, namely, recycling. The city of San Francisco banned the 18-ounce plastic bottle last week. Hopefully, we will all be back here speaking in the House and putting the most important issue first, namely, our environment.

I am from the west of Ireland and am very familiar with the ocean. If we continue the way we are going, there will be more plastic rubbish than fish in the ocean by 2050. That is a very serious proposition. We are bound to look at what we are doing with plastic. This country led the way with the plastic bag initiative and it could lead the way as well on the smaller plastic drinking bottle following San Francisco. We could look at that issue. Some 95% of plastic packaging worth €73 billion per year is lost to the economy because it is not recycled. When, hopefully, we are all back here again, our environment should be one of the first issues we deal with. We introduced the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, which is very welcome, but we should also look at further recycling, particularly the glass initiative, and curb plastic pollution. San Francisco has done it. It is estimated that 50% of the plastic on the planet is only used once. We must think outside the box. The Think Outside The Bottle campaign is one of the initiatives used in San Francisco. Will the Leader put this on the agenda for our environment?