Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Well done to him. It took a long period to bring through the legislation. I wish to acknowledge the work of the former Senator, Grace O'Sullivan, in 2016. I had the pleasure of voting for it in the House at the time. I am also grateful for the work of the former Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock, and the co-operation shown across party lines in bringing the legislation forward today.

As with all legislation, we do our absolute best to ensure it is the best it can be. However, sometimes legislation goes further than envisaged. It is a matter of leadership. It is a matter of a message going out to the public to the effect that this is a serious matter and the Government is prepared to show leadership by bringing through the microbeads legislation.

A new Government may, and probably will, review the measures outlined in this legislation as science changes, and so it should. It is important that we are united in our stance in getting this legislation through tonight. It should be enacted by the end of the year. Then, any new Government that comes in the following years can review, improve and strengthen it. Environmental legislation in Ireland needs to be reviewed and strengthened.

I take issue with Senator Lombard's contribution and his comments on leadership. We need not always wait for the public to catch up. The science has been telling us for a long time that microbeads are a problem and have been getting into the food chain and causing damage. That is why the former Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, brought the legislation to the House. That is why the former Senator, Grace O'Sullivan, brought Private Members' legislation to the House. That was when leadership should have been shown within this House. A majority of people should have voted for it. We would have seen the legislation introduced at an earlier stage. That is no criticism of the Minister because he has worked in co-operation with Grace O'Sullivan and the former Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, on this issue. More and more, we need politicians to show leadership rather than wait for the public to catch up. Since entering the House it has been more and more problematic. We fought tooth and nail on the Heritage Bill. We laid out clearly the damage to the microclimate and our biodiversity. Unfortunately, we were not listened to at that stage. Thankfully, that legislation was never enacted. Those responsible took our views on board. However, it was terrible that we had to go through days, weeks and months arguing the point only to be told that the plan for the Twenty-six Counties was only a pilot.

I congratulate the Minister. I have no wish to speak too long on this Bill. I will not be supporting any of the amendments because I believe there is a sense of urgency to pass this legislation tonight. It should be enacted this year to send the message to the public that politicians now take climate change seriously. We understand the effects and impact it has on people's health with microplastics getting into the food chain. We understand the long-term damage that they are doing to our eco-system. I congratulate the Minister on getting the legislation this far. Certainly, I will be doing nothing this evening to delay the Bill from being enacted in the House or to prevent the legislation being signed by the President, hopefully, this year so we can see enforcement taking place.

I congratulate the Minster, the former Senator, Grace O'Sullivan, the former Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, and the Department officials on working closely together to get this legislation to this stage tonight.