Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the Minister for Rural and Community Development launched the 2022 Tidy Towns competition and I wish all the Tidy Towns committees the very best of luck. I congratulate them on all their tireless work every week to make our towns and villages and byroads and high roads aesthetically better. They foster such community spirit and greatly improve our communities.

Nevertheless, I would like a debate to be held on the circular economy and the lack of ambition in the new Circular Economy, Waste Management (Amendment) and Minerals Development (Amendment) Bill 2022. The State is asking Tidy Towns volunteers to be heavy lifters and to collect bags and bags of rubbish every week. In our new circular economy, there will be levies for plastic cups and so on, but there will be no incentive such as a digital deposit return scheme and there has been no effort to ensure every local authority will have proper litter wardens who can enforce the law in respect of littering. Moreover, there are many people who fly-tip. County Louth is a blackspot for people dumping mattresses and other objects on the side of the road and no one has the authority or role within Louth County Council to go after these people. The resources are just not there. I want to ensure our Tidy Towns committees will not be seen as rubbish collectors. They should be people who merely tidy our towns, such as picking up the odd crisp packet left on the road. They should be planting our community gardens and organising community projects. They are not there to be litter collectors. We need the circular economy Bill to provide for those resources in local government and to be more ambitious by providing for a digital deposit return scheme.