Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy.

Let me set the matter in context. Sir David Attenborough has called for the world to cut back on its use of plastics in order to protect the oceans. A recent investigation carried out by The Guardianestablished that consumers around the world bought 1 million plastic bottles every minute. Plastic production is set to double in the next 20 years and quadruple by 2050. Around the world more than 8 million tonnes of plastic leaks into the oceans. A recent study found that billions of people around the globe were drinking water contaminated by plastic.

A year ago this week I introduced a Bill, the Micro-plastics and Micro-bead Pollution Prevention Bill 2016, with the support of the Civic Engagement Group in the Seanad. The aim of the legislation was to address the growing problem of micro-plastic pollution in the oceans, rivers and seas. In spite of warm statements of support for the principles of the Bill from the then Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, the Government, together with Fianna Fáil, voted it down. In speaking against it the then Minister promised action on micro-beads within one year, together with a new regime to establish a number of much needed marine protected areas. At a seminar hosted by Sustainable Water Action Network in April this year he once again gave assurances that the Government was working on and would soon publish an oceans Bill to finally create a coherent network of marine protected areas, MPAs, to protect the oceans and bring us into compliance with the EU marine strategy framework directive. One year on there is no sign of either. Micro-plastics pollution is a serious problem and since this time last year we have seen a large number of new reports on the negative impact of micro-plastics on the marine environment, filling much of the previous data gap. In June the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, published a report that found that exposure to micro-plastics in drinking water and food prepared with contaminated water posed a risk to human health and wildlife.

The Green Party's Bill would have introduced the concept of micro-plastic pollution into Irish law for the first time and allowed us to show some leadership. It would have banished all products containing micro-beads from the shelves and obliged the EPA to perform and publish annual tests for micro-plastic pollution. The Minister would have been obliged to present the EPA's findings to the Oireachtas, together with solutions.

The Government claimed that a ban would be contrary to EU Single Market rules, but during the debate it highlighted exceptions to the rules. The then Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, illustrated this by writing to Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Commissioner Vella to say Ireland would act on the issue. It seemed that the Government was genuine in its commitment to tackle plastic and micro-plastic pollution and, to its credit, it engaged in a public consultation process on the issue early this year. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, even told his colleagues at the Council of Ministers that Ireland would not wait for EU measures on micro-plastics but would press ahead with its own legislation to tackle the problem. The subsequent Labour Party Bill tabled by Deputy Sean Sherlock to ban micro-beads was allowed to pass the first hurdle in the Dáil and is still being considered, yet progress has since stalled.

What is most serious is that there is absolutely no sign in the Government's autumn legislative agenda of the oceans Bill, something the Green Party would greatly welcome. We have seen the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, recently oppose the joint Green Party-Labour Party effort to introduce a deposit recycling system and a ban on non-recyclable or non-compostable single use plastics. What is the status of the oceans Bill? Is the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government working on it and what will be its scope? Will efforts be made by the Government to begin the process of tackling plastic marine waste and protecting key habitats? Clearly, Government statements that protection of the environment from plastic pollution was a priority have not been reflected in the actions taken to date. The European Union has been informed; the public consultation process has been concluded and many promises have been made. Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to tell where the oceans Bill is.