Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte riomh an Aire Stáit. I welcome this legislation. I slightly disagree with Senator Pauline O'Reilly who stated that the top issue on the doorsteps is dumping. The top issue on the doorsteps is the cost of living. This legislation will actually contribute towards saving people money. In fact, it is estimated that if we can boost Ireland's circularity by eliminating wasteful practices and making better use of the resources that we have, we can save up to €2.3 billion per year. Thinking about the amount of food and packaging waste that is out there, if we can reduce that, it will represent a significant saving. I disagree with Senator Keogan's contribution in many ways. The legislation is not just about coffee cups. It applies to other areas. The legislation is about the safe and effective use of containers and packaging. I know that a lot of focus is being placed on single-use cups. The legislation is about ensuring that we manage and use the resources that we have efficiently, and that we try to minimise or indeed eliminate wasteful practices in any way possible.

I am quite happy that there is a clear commitment, within this legislation, to achieving a number of the sustainable development goals which were adopted by the UN in September 2015. We have until 2030 to try to reach some of these goals. This legislation goes significantly towards that. As the Minister of State outlined, it will also contribute towards reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.It is essential that it is about more than just legislation and regulation. This must be accompanied by measures in respect of education. There is talk of this in the context of the environmental fund. There must be emphasis from a very early stage in life on why we need to adopt these practices. There is, obviously, the very welcome new second level subject on climate and sustainability, but this is something on which I see major advertising campaigns to inform people as to how this will operate in practice, as was mentioned earlier, much the same as way the plastic bag levy was adopted.

I mentioned that under the circular economy strategy that has been drawn up, regard will be given under section 7 to a number of bodies and reports, including the UN sustainable development goals, which I very much welcome. However, a concern I have is that there is no mention of engagement with local government during that period. In fact, the first time within the legislation we see mention of local government is when we come to the piece concerning CCTV and detection of illegal dumping. In section 8(14) it is proposed there would be a committee to advise the Minister on his or her functions. In that context, I ask the either elected local government representatives or executive officials would have a role in this, particularly in terms of the roll-out of some of the measures, something that will be facilitated most effectively at a local level. I also ask that we ensure that in advising on those functions for that committee, there would be guarantees of representation for young people or youth organisations representing young people. I would certainly look at considering amendments on that at Committee Stage.

I note the establishment of the circular economy fund. Many of the powers with regard to that are vested in the Minister. Again, I hope that consideration could be given to a greater role for local authorities in terms of specific local initiatives and that could in some way be tied into how the fund would be administered on the ground.

I welcome the fact that the Minister of State referenced both my Bill and that of Senator Wall, the moves to allow local authorities to use CCTV and other technologies to be able to catch illegal dumpers. This is a curse in all of our communities, urban and rural. I disagree again with Senator Keogan with regard to believing that people should not be subject to a fine if they engage in dumping because they are not financially well off. I do not care who somebody is, no matter how wealthy or disadvantaged they are. If they are involved in dumping, they deserve to be punished. The Minister of State will find general agreement from virtually all sections of the community that this should be the case. It is a scourge on all our communities and for the Tidy Towns groups and development associations that do wonderful, good work, which is undone by those who are involved in dumping.

I welcome the provisions in the legislation. I am glad to say that many of them echo those of the Bill I proposed and that we debated a number of months ago. I am obviously keen to ensure that in as far as possible, it will be general data protection regulation, GDPR, compliant but I am also keen that the legislation will be technology neutral as new technologies are developed. We spoke previously around areas like drone technology and so on, which can be rolled out in a GDPR-compliant fashion and which can be used to catch those responsible for damaging our communities. We know again that this will represent a significant saving. I surveyed local authorities and we are talking about something in the order of €90 million to €100 million per year being spent on dealing with illegal dumping and littering. If that money can be saved by local authorities to be invested in other areas, that is a significant development.

I ask that when this legislation is enacted, immediate supports be made available to local authorities in order that they can roll out the necessary CCTV. If the Minister of State talks to local councils, he will discover that they are more than willing to deploy the necessary technologies. Elected representatives and council officials want to catch these illegal dumpers and ensure they are prosecuted. They will need the resources initially to do that, though. I ask that when the legislation is enacted, we follow through on this as a priority.What the legislation provides for is a levy and a potential ban on one-use items. I am supportive of the broad principle of that. It is what we want to achieve. What I do want to ensure though is that we do not essentially replace one-off items with cheap plastic, and that it becomes an excuse for doing so. We should not say that we are not going to use the one-off items so let us just use lots of cheap plastic. The key to this is about limiting the percentage of plastic that we are going to use. This is a concern that is being expressed by paper cup manufacturers and it is a legitimate concern that needs to be heard. Effectively, the fear is that paper cups will be banned and we will end up with plastic cups that will involve cheap plastic and in the long run will not be good for the environment. We have got to be careful of unintended consequences.

If Senator Keogan cannot find a KeepCup, I will quite happily supply her with one. I have a KeepCup that I use and a number of others. This is a very welcome piece of legislation, which is attempting to ensure that we properly manage the valuable resources we have. The Minister of State should expect broad cross-party support on it.