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

The use of the word "loopholes" is important in terms of language. We do not wish to give people outside the House the impression that what we have introduced is not the most professional legislation in the EU dealing with microbeads because it is. What we and the Senator recognise is the need to go further once this is done, not to sit back on our laurels and say we are brilliant and are now the vanguard. We have reached this point and we have gone further than our EU partners; now the issue is to drive further on and to use the authority we have as first movers to bring others with us.

With regard to the work of the EPA, the money is available to it to enforce its new powers. It is not in the Bill but I give an undertaking to the Senators today to request a report from the EPA on implementation of the Bill after 12 months of its operation. Let us use that as an opportunity to address the issues that have been raised in the amendments. We can see what the EPA has done to enforce the new law and whether that needs to be strengthened or requires greater resources. At that point we can see if we need to make amendments to the legislation.