Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to be here to support the Bill on behalf of the Civil Engagement Group. I thank Sinn Féin for introducing this important and thoughtful legislation. I commend Senator Boylan on all the work she and her team have done on it. Politicians like Senator Boylan, my colleague, Senator Higgins, and Deputy Bríd Smith are doing very important work to highlight that environmentalism is not only necessary to limit the devastating effects of climate change but can also inspire new ways of doing things that create a more socially just and equal society. We are producing mountains of waste. I will focus on the environmental destruction wrought by the garment industry, but there are similar dynamics in other industries that this Bill addresses.

Developments in e-commerce, manufacturing technology and the brutal exploitation of workers in developing countries mean that consumers in developed countries are acquiring huge quantities of goods for unsustainable cheap prices. However, it is a false economy. Often these goods are of incredibly low quality. Poor manufacturing and confusing, inconsistent sizing mean that many garments that are bought online are returned. These returned garments are dumped because they are so cheaply made it is easier for the companies to dispose of them instead of bringing them back into retail circulation. At a time when the limitations of our planet's resources have never been so starkly illustrated, this wastefulness is absolutely obscene. Not only does this production model damage the environment, it does harm to the workers labouring in oppressive and unbearable conditions to produce what is then so casually discarded. Luxury firms have a different approach which is, however, also profoundly wasteful. They will destroy excess stock so that oversupply does not impinge on the perceived value of the clothes, which is maintained through artificial scarcity and ludicrously overinflated prices. The incentive structure of modern manufacturing and retail is creating massive unnecessary waste and worse outcomes for consumers, who struggle to chart a course between flimsy fast fashion and inaccessible luxury goods that serve primarily as a status symbol. This Bill would disrupt that toxic incentive structure and encourage a more sustainable approach to production. This could have the knock-on effect of producing better quality goods and more humane labour practices. Legislative interventions like this Bill are necessary to disrupt these wasteful and destructive practices. I know there may be EU legislation in the years to come but it is vital that we do not sit around and dither in the meantime. We need to follow the lead of countries like Germany and France and take decisive, positive action.

The Government needs to be lead in this area. With that in mind, the Minister, Deputy Coveney's decision to attend the opening of the Shein offices was really unfortunate. Shein's involvement in the exploitation of garment workers and its profoundly negative environmental impact should disqualify it from Government and IDA Ireland support. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, is supposed to head up the Government's efforts to enhance and secure workers' rights. Rolling out the welcome mat for an infamous firm like Shein undermines confidence that he or this Government can credibly claim to advance workers or stand up for human rights at home and abroad. At a time when so many people in this world have so little, the destruction of consumer goods that would make a tangible difference in the lives of low-income people is a moral as well as an environmental catastrophe. The profit margins or luxury status of companies cannot trump that greater social need to ensure that waste is avoided and people are provided with the means to have a comfortable, fulfilled and dignified life.

We need to reimagine and reshape our labour markets, supply chains and production and consumption patterns if we are going to limit the devastation of climate change. That is not a recipe for eco-austerity; it is an opportunity to create a more rational economy and society that is less wasteful, less exploitative and better at providing people with the goods and services they need, not mountains of junk mouldering in landfills or littering our seas. We must break out of the short-term, myopic mindset that plagues politicians. We need to think about the big structural changes safeguarding our future requires. The Bill is a brilliant intervention.I am glad to be here to support it. I hope it receives the cross-party support it deserves and is passed swiftly through these Houses and enacted. We must be bolder and more ambitious in our approach to environmental protection. We have a responsibility to the generations after us and the people of the global south, who will bear a disproportionate amount of the burden of the consequences of the excessive, unsustainable consumption in the global north.