Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I really appreciate that. I apologise to Senator Conway that I forgot to address the point he made on community systems and local authorities in my initial response. It is a fantastic idea. I will take it to the Minister of State with responsibility for local government, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell. I am more than happy to engage with community groups or local authorities around the country to fill the gaps because, at the end of the day, we will need a lot more than 18,000 return vending machines. In the case of the advance capital allowance, I assure the Senator that we will continue to engage with the Department of Finance with a view to having it included in this year's finance Bill. Any assistance that the Senator or this House could provide in that regard would be really appreciated. There are already some supports for smaller retailers but I appreciate that some of them are not sufficient and that we need more. If we are to be serious about this, and we are deadly serious about this, we need to take every opportunity possible to spread the scheme out after we get it fully operational.