Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 12, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "Right to Repair

8. (1) The Minister shall, within 12 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and publish a report examining how a right to repair can be introduced in Ireland.

(2) This report shall examine how the introduction of minimum design requirements, allowing for the easy disassembly and replacement of key components, can assist in giving people a right to repair products.

(3) The report shall also examine whether a Scoring System on Repairability as part of the existing energy label for all energy-consuming products, can be introduced, to inform consumers of the repairability of a product at the point of purchase.".

Amendment No. 14 deals with the right to repair. It proposes that 12 months after the passing of the legislation, the Minister would prepare and publish a report examining how the right to repair can be introduced in Ireland. I know the EU is looking at this but that should not be a barrier to Ireland doing this itself. The report would also look at the introduction of minimum design standards allowing for the easy disassembly and replacement of key components, and a scoring system on repairability as part of the existing energy label for all energy-consuming products. This would mean that when people buy a product they at least have this information and can make an informed decision on whether they want to purchase the item based on the ability to repair it.

Amendment No. 74 calls for a ban on the dumping of new non-food products, whereby the producers, importers and distributors of new non-food products intended for sale are required to reuse them by donating them to charities, NGOs, second-hand shops, social enterprises or as may be defined in the regulations by the Minister. This goes to the awful stories we have seen of large companies such as Amazon dumping brand-new televisions purely because they had not been sold. The amendment would ban this and the companies would have to find a source for the goods. They would not be able to dump them.