Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am not accepting amendments Nos. 9 to 13, inclusive. The civic amenity sites are the major interface for dealing with recycling and for the general public getting rid of waste and they are often not consistent from one place to another. Different waste streams are accepted and it is not always entirely clear why. It is confusing. I agree with Senator Boylan that men's sheds are part of the circular economy and are often overlooked. I notice that a lot of voluntary organisations make deals with civic amenity sites to collect various waste streams, whether bits of furniture, bicycles or whatever else. I would like to see more consistency in the civic amenity sites. There is a national waste management plan currently being developed across all the local authorities. That is the policy vehicle that will address the civic amenity sites. The waste action plan contains a commitment to formalise the role of civic amenity sites and to agree a standard list of waste streams to be accepted. There will be consistency on this in future. The regional waste management planning offices recently published a national review of civic amenity sites. Discussions have commenced with the local authority sector on the implementation of the report recommendations that will allow civic amenity sites to play a greater role in our transition to a circular economy. It will also assist in continuing to reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills. On that basis, I do not propose to accept amendment No. 13.

Amendment No. 9 relates to activities that are inherently international. This is the amendment on shipping and aviation. It is very important that shipping and aviation are treated in the same way as other sectors and do not get a free ride. Otherwise people who are paying charges on their fossil fuels will have to watch airplanes and ships go past that are getting a free ride. That would not be fair. On the basis of equity this has to change. It has to change at international level rather than national level. The Bill is not the right vehicle for it. I assure the Senators that when Irish Ministers are in EU Council meetings discussing this with their corresponding Ministers they are making progress on it. In Luxembourg earlier this week, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, made progress on including aviation in the emissions trading scheme and making sure it has to pay for the CO2 emitted, and on moving towards alternative fuels for aircraft. Shipping and aviation have to be taxed in the same way as any other sectors that use fossil fuels. They cannot get a free ride. I agree with the sentiment in this regard.

On amendment No. 10, there is already text in the Bill that relates to public procurement. It is sufficient and I say this from the point of view of somebody who considers green public procurement very carefully. I do not agree with the text of the amendment, which I am not going to accept.

Amendment No. 11 proposes to change the definition of "levels" to include availability in the context of the number of repairs taking place. It already includes the concept of availability and reuse. As such, I will not accept amendment No. 11.

I will not be accepting amendment No. 12. The consultation requirements for the circular economy strategy were significantly amended in the Dáil and now include a specific requirement on the Minister to take the national disability inclusion strategy and the roadmap for social inclusion into account when making the circular economy strategy. I thank the Deputies who made the suggestions on Committee Stage to include the national disability inclusion strategy and the roadmap for social inclusion. As such, I do not believe amendment No. 12 is necessary.

Amendment No. 69 relates to textiles and clothing. Policy is being developed on textiles, with a multi-stakeholder working group having been formed by the Department to inform the process. As a result of this, legislative amendments may be appropriate in the future but I do not believe they are necessary at this time.