Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 60 seeks to insert "climate justice" as one of the issues to which the Minister may have regard when preparing the national food waste prevention strategy. This is particularly important in the context of famine in the Horn of Africa and the incredibly devastating impacts of climate change we have seen in respect of global drought and hunger.I will not move amendment No. 61 because it contains an error, but it also seeks to address the targets and indicators for zero hunger. In the Horn of Africa, large parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, the situation is now worse than the 2011 famine that killed more than 250,000 people. Some 23 million people are in need of humanitarian support and food across the region.

Amendment No. 65 touches on the issue of fast fashion. For many people clothing that is not produced using sustainable methods is their only option because it is inexpensive. However, we also know that the industry itself is a big polluter and in terms of climate justice it has an extremely negative impact on indigenous fashion industries in the global south countries.

Award winning journalist Sally Hayden has highlighted that in Ghana second-hand garments that arrive from Europe and North Africa are known as obroni wawu, dead white men's clothes. Some 50 million of them find their way to Accra, the west African country's capital. Much of what arrives is clearly waste meaning that the African continent is often left to deal with the devastating impact of overconsumption and the rise in fast fashion. I regret that my previous amendments seeking to ensure that clothes that have a lifespan of less than two years should not be sold was ruled out of order because I do not believe that clothes with a lifespan of less than two years should be sold.

Amendment No. 66 seeks a report, within 12 months of the passing of this legislation, outlining the mechanisms employed to ensure that both the circular economy strategy and the circular economy programme protect human rights and the environment along the supply chain of goods. EU legislation in the area of due diligence needs to be strengthened as it currently only covers about 1% of companies. This is consistent with that general principle. The Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights report Make It Your Business! has clearly outlined the need for far higher accountability mechanisms in the supply chains of Irish companies.