Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to present the Microbeads (Prohibition) Bill 2019 to the Seanad after its successful passage through the Dáil. The Bill represents our determination to be in the vanguard of safeguarding our environment, thus protecting future generations in the coming years. The cross-party support the Bill received in the Dáil was most welcome. It is gratifying to be able to work together for such positive purposes.

It is timely to be debating this Bill this evening following the announcement last Wednesday by the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, of a European green new deal. This deal is aimed at restructuring the European economy at all levels to arrest further climate change and to protect ecology and the environment, preventing further biodiversity loss and reducing pollution. One of the stated objectives of the Commission's green new deal is to follow up on the 2018 plastics strategy which focused on measures to tackle intentionally-added microplastics and unintentional releases of plastics, among other things. The Microbeads (Prohibition) Bill, which will reduce the amount of microplastics released into the environment, fits perfectly with this objective and puts Ireland in the vanguard of international efforts to meet this challenge. Ireland has previously led the charge with measures such as our plastic bag levy and smoking ban. A small number of other states have introduced restrictions on the sale of rinse down the drain cosmetic products containing plastic microbeads. However, this Bill goes further than that by restricting their manufacture and export, as well as sale. More significantly, its scope extends to cover household and industrial cleaning products containing plastic microbeads, which no other EU member state has done to date. This reflects our national position, held since 2015, of seeking the phase-out of all such products across the EU at the earliest opportunity. My concern about microbeads is shared across all parties and throughout broader society. I commend the former Senator, Grace O'Sullivan, MEP, and Deputy Sherlock, who earlier introduced Private Members' Bills on this topic. This Bill responds to those Bills and I am happy to work with Senators in order that we can have the legislation enacted and in operation before the end of this year.

As the Bill limits the type of product that can be sold on the Irish market, Ireland was obliged to seek a derogation under the EU Single Market rules which aim to prevent member states erecting artificial barriers to trade. Derogations can be sought on environmental and health grounds. To ensure the final legislation would be operable we notified the European Commission of the provisions of the Bill following Second Stage in Dáil Éireann. This required a three-month standstill period to give the Commission and other member states the opportunity to seek clarifications or to raise objections. While the Commission raised a small number of definitional points, there were no objections raised within the standstill period which meant that, on 22 October, Ireland was in a position to proceed with enactment of the Bill. To facilitate early enactment, it is important that the technical scope of the legislation is not expanded during the legislative process to avoid a further requirement for notification. With this in view, I am grateful that the Bill has had such a smooth passage through Committee and Report Stages in the Dáil. Issues raised by the Commission related to potential areas of difference between proposed EU legislation and this Bill relating to the minimum size of microbeads and permissible concentration levels of microbeads in products. I responded to these points by proposing some minor definitional amendments on Committee Stage in the Dáil and I will elaborate on these when setting out the content of the Bill in detail.

The purpose of the Bill is to make it an offence to manufacture or place on the market for sale or supply certain products containing plastic microbeads. This is due to their potential for environmental harm as microplastic litter in marine and freshwater environments. In the Bill, placing on the market means selling, offering or exposing for sale, advertising, distributing for free, importing, exporting or supplying. The Bill will also prohibit the disposal of any substances containing plastic microbeads down the drain or directly into freshwater or marine environments. The Bill is one of a range of measures being brought forward nationally, across the EU and through international conventions such as the OSPAR Convention, the sea convention to protect the north-east Atlantic, to reduce the impact of marine litter.

Due to its buoyancy, plastic is easily carried by currents or blown by winds from land or sea sources. They persist in the environment for an extremely long period and cannot be easily recovered. Larger items break down into secondary microplastic particles and there is now a growing body of evidence to indicate that plastics and microplastics may be impacting marine habitats and fauna negatively. National and international research continues to confirm that microplastics are also being ingested by all forms of marine life from the smallest plankton to the largest filter-feeding whales. This is happening in every part of the marine environment.

Microplastics are also found in freshwater. An Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, funded study published in 2017 found that not only were microplastics to be found throughout Irish freshwater environments but traces could even be found in our drinking water. Indeed, the group of chief scientific advisers to the European Commission recently reported that microplastic pollution has been found throughout the environment, including in air and soil as well as water. This is not merely a marine or freshwater issue or concern.

Microplastics are small, non-biodegradable solid plastic particles less than 5 mm wide in their largest dimension. They are entering the marine environment directly in a wide variety of forms. These include fibres shred from clothes, lost raw material pellets or microbeads used in cosmetics, cleansing products and detergents. Microbeads are one element of the overall microplastic problem. The Bill reinforces public and industry awareness of the problem and prepares society for more challenging measures to be introduced in the coming years. The most effective solution to tackling microplastic pollution is to tackle it at source. The Bill covers products that are likely to end up in watercourses and wastewater systems. These are products designed to be rinsed or washed off down the drain. The Bill should be seen within the context of work at EU level to develop EU-wide REACH - registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals - regulations to address primary microplastics entering the environment. The introduction of such regulations was committed to in the EU plastics strategy introduced in 2018.

I will now outline the purpose and operation of each section of the Bill. Section 1 sets out the definitions of key terms used in the Bill. Section 2 makes it an offence to manufacture or place on the market rinse-off cosmetic and cleaning products containing plastic microbeads.

Section 3 provides for exemptions for medical products and sunscreen products to protect human health and materials being used for scientific research. It provides that regulations can be made exempting certain essential industrial cleaning agents where no microbead-free substitutes exist.

Section 4 makes it an offence to dispose of substances containing plastic microbeads down the drain or directly into any body of water. Section 5 sets out the powers of authorised persons. Section 6 provides for the prosecution of company officers or members of a body corporate for offences under this Bill. Section 7 provides for the fining or imprisonment or both of persons found guilty of an offence.

Section 8 provides that the Environmental Protection Agency may bring summary proceedings for an offence and for the court to have the power to order the persons found guilty of committing an offence under this Act to pay the agency's costs. Section 9 provides for the Minister to request enforcement activity reports from the agency. Section 10 provides for administrative costs for the proposed legislation to be paid out of voted expenditure. Section 11 sets out the Short Title and commencement of the Bill.

Some of the more important provisions include appropriate technical definitions of "microplastic", "microbead", "cosmetics" and "plastic", which are central to the success of this legislation. The Bill incorporates definitions that are robust, enforceable, future-proofed and in line with current scientific research. I introduced a technical amendment for the definition of "microbead" on Committee Stage in the Dáil to align it with the EU standards by adding a minimum dimension of 1 nanometre at its narrowest point. This is in response to observations made by the Commission when the Bill was submitted for a derogation from Single Market rules. The amendment brings the legislation in line with proposed EU technical and legal definitions of microbeads. In response to EU observations I introduced an amendment on Committee Stage to create a minimum allowable concentration of plastic microbeads of 0.01% in a substance weight for weight. This will bring Ireland's legislation into line with scientific standards in proposed EU REACH regulations on the restriction of intentionally added microplastics to products. It is regarded by scientific experts as the minimum concentration below which intentionally added microbeads are not detectable.

The Bill gives responsibility to the EPA for its implementation. EPA officers and customs officers are made authorised persons and the Bill lays out their enforcement powers. It provides that a person summarily convicted would receive a class A fine or a prison sentence of up to six months or both. Conviction on indictment may mean a fine of up to €3 million or a prison sentence of up to five years or both.

The Bill is not expected to have a significant impact on Irish businesses. Industry is fully aware that international opinion has turned against plastic microbeads. Banning them is a key feature of the EU's 2018 European strategy for plastics in a circular economy. Restrictions on the sale of rinse-off cosmetic products containing plastic microbeads have been introduced in France, Sweden and the UK, among other countries. Manufacturers are already turning to alternatives. Plastic microbeads can be cheaply replaced by natural substitutes. Indeed, many Irish cosmetic manufacturers already focus on producing products with natural ingredients. The proposed prohibition is not expected to have much impact on consumer choice. Products without plastic microbeads are already widely available and preferred by consumers.

The Bill is an important measure to reduce the levels of microplastic pollution generated in Ireland. Its scope puts Ireland legislatively at the forefront in Europe and gives us a strong basis for pushing for similarly high levels of ambition in forthcoming EU instruments. There are many more steps to come in terms of microplastics and marine litter generally. Some of these will be challenging and will require a cross-sectoral and wider societal response, but I am encouraged by the level of cross-party support to date for the prohibitions on certain products containing microbeads as set out in this Bill. I thank Senators in advance for their engagement on the Bill and I hope we will be able to complete its progress this evening to allow its enactment before Christmas.