Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

562. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a breakdown of the total amount raised by the plastic bag levy since its introduction in tabular form by year; if he will provide a breakdown of the way this levy was spent; the amounts provided to bodies including industry representative associations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2622/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Receipts from the plastic bag levy and landfill levy for each year are published in the Environment Fund Annual Accounts. Annual Accounts for the Environment Fund up to and including 2012 are available on my Department’s website at the following link: . The 2013 Annual Accounts will be published on my Department’s website in due course, after they have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Funding from Environment Fund can only be used for activities or initiatives in a range of areas such as, inter alia:

- schemes to prevent/reduce waste;

- waste recovery activities;

- research & development into waste management;

- production, distribution or sale of products deemed to be less harmful to the environment than other similar products;

- development of producer initiatives to prevent/reduce waste arising from their activities;

- promotion of awareness of the need to protect the environment, including national and regional campaigns;

- promotion /support of education and training to assist achievement of campaign objectives;

- initiatives undertaken by community groups and others for protection of the environment;

- initiatives undertaken by international organisations and others for protection of the environment and/or sustainable development;

- such other purposes for protection of the environment as may be prescribed by the Minister in regulations.

As receipts from both the plastic bag levy and the landfill levy are aggregated into the Environment Fund prior to their disbursement for the above purposes, it is not possible to give a detailed breakdown of how funds from the plastic bag levy alone are distributed. However, no funding from the Environment Fund is provided to the Irish Waste Management Association, the representative association for the waste management industry in Ireland.