Anthony Lawlor (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the discussion provoked by Senator McDowell. I hope he will support the Civil Liability (Capping of General Damages) Bill 2019 that I will be introducing tomorrow. I hope the Bill will move to Second Stage during Private Members' time in a couple of weeks. I will seek support for this Bill because it will be very important for people paying insurance.

I also want to raise an issue brought to my attention over the weekend. When I was growing up three Rs were used for reduce, reuse and recycle. We are all now talking about climate change, climate action and what needs to be done. We have a situation, however, at the moment where the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, will not license recycling facilities for concrete and allow it be reused. It has to be put back into the ground instead.

As a consequence, more stone and rock has to be quarried and used. I am referring to concrete that could be recycled and be perfectly usable for roadways and footpaths. It is not suitable for building as there is a potential issue with pyrite, but it can be used for other construction projects such as in-farm roadways. The EPA will not, however, grant licences to various highly-regarded companies that could produce this recycled material. The concrete has to be disposed of in a landfill as a result. I ask the Leader to request the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, to come to the House and address this matter. It is a ludicrous situation. This recyclable material could be reused in various forms in construction or in the farm sector and that would be good for the environment.