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

I absolutely appreciate the motivation behind the amendment. I am not trying to be difficult in saying that I cannot accept it. We debated the matter on Second Stage. I gave a commitment that we would look and consult international bodies on the matter. I said we would look again at the scientific research and evidence available to ensure that we were solid in terms of what we were proposing in allowing for an exemption in the Bill for sunscreen. The amendment would remove the exemption.

We spoke to the Health Products Regulatory Authority. We spoke to the Plastic Soup Foundation in the Netherlands, which oversaw the successful Beat the Microbead campaign. The Senators are right to say that sunscreen generally does not contain microbeads or microplastics. However, the Health Products Regulatory Authority was unable to confirm that there were no specialist anti-allergen sunscreen products containing plastic microbeads as substitutes for natural mineral particles that were used as part of the reflection properties. We had to take a balance of risk in terms of risk to the environment versus risk to the individual's health. If a person was unable to source a substitute sunscreen, there might not be one available. That could pose a risk to the health of that person. That is why the exemption remains.

This will be kept under review over time. There are many other products on the market. Many producers have seen where this is going and have brought in substitute materials, including organic materials that are not plastic. We will get there with all sunscreen products, but because we were unable to confirm from a health point of view that there would be no impact on certain products we were unable to accept the amendment.