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

I assure Senator Ward that the consultation is a genuine exercise. The point of it is that we receive submissions from people who have first-hand, domain expertise because all they do all day is sell coffee or make paper cups or whatever. It would not be right for me to design these things from a desktop point of view. I wait for what comes in and I am surprised by what comes in and then I implement that. To give Senator Ward an idea to compare with, the plastic bag exempts butchers and fishmongers because a person cannot reuse a plastic bag that fish was kept in. There have to be practical implementation details. What about hot and cold drinks? To give the example of Missy Moop’s and McDonalds on the other side of the road, if one goes into McDonalds and orders a coffee from the McCafe they will have to pay the levy. If they go into Missy Moop's and have a coca-cola they will not have to pay a levy there. This applies equally to everybody. Next year of course, cold drinks will be brought in, and later, hamburger and pizza boxes and so on.

Will this hit businesses? No, it will not. Does the plastic bag levy reduce the amount of food people eat? Of course it does not. It will not have a damaging effect on the amount of coffee consumed.Coffee is an addictive drink and people will continue to buy it in huge quantities. I do not think that cafés will have a problem. Realistically, what will happen is that someone will forget to bring his or her cup. The person will go into a café and will not have his or her KeepCup or reusable cup. There are a number of solutions, apart from paying the levy and getting the single-use cup. A number of options have emerged in other jurisdictions. There are approximately four different versions of cup-sharing schemes, whether that involves putting a deposit on a cup and getting it back later, being a member of a club, getting free coffees when one pays for a cup and so on. There are many alternatives. We will find a way through it, just as we did through the plastic bag levy, and there will be considerable benefits for all. The retailer can stop paying considerable quantities of money for these cups and the consumer will stop having to pay that secret share, because the consumer can use his or her own cup, and the price of coffee will reduce.