Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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564. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the proposals his Department have with regard to putting a levy on the end of life tyres; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4460/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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As part of the Producer Responsibility Initiative (PRI) Review, my Department published a report on waste tyres in November 2013, which concluded that the current system is not functioning as intended, with a lack of basic information, poor structure, poor environmental outcomes in the form of large stockpiles of waste tyres and a substantial proportion of waste tyres unaccounted for. The report also identified significant non-compliance among those with responsibilities under the current Waste Tyre Regulations. To address these significant shortcomings, my Department has been working, in full consultation with all parts of the tyre industry, to assist it in putting in place a system of producer responsibility, in line with those that apply to other sectors, to provide for the collection, sorting and management of the waste they produce in an environmentally sound manner. This is in line with the “polluter pays principle” which is a firmly established feature of both domestic waste policy and legislation.  This will require an overhaul of existing structures, but I believe that this can be achieved without distorting the tyres market in Ireland, without encouraging customers to buy tyres outside of the jurisdiction and without widespread job losses. Moreover, I believe that such a scheme could be provided for without introducing any new costs, but rather by effectively formalising the existing charge that is already applied to almost all tyre purchases.

Arising from the work of the Tyres Working Group, which includes representatives from across the waste and tyres industries, my Department has now received proposals for the future management of waste tyres from the Independent Tyre Wholesalers and Retailers Association (ITWRA) and the Irish Tyre Industry Association (ITIA). While it would have been my preference for all sides within the industry to come together in support of a single proposal, the separate proposals have been considered by my Department, and I have now i nformed all sections of the tyre industry of my decision to establish a full Producer Responsibility I nitiative scheme for waste tyres .

A copy of the letter to the tyre industry, setting out in greater detail the specific details of the scheme and proposed next steps has been forwarded separately to the Deputy.