John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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463. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 455 of 19 June 2018, the amount collected from the plastic bag levy in each of the years from 2013 to 2017; the number of the 70 cent or more bags that have been sold in the same period by commercial and retail outlets; and his views on whether, by pricing the bags at 70 cent or more, retail outlets are evading their responsibilities by denying the State revenue, encouraging more plastic into the environment and discouraging recycling. [27795/18]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I refer to the reply to Question Nos 454 and 455 of 19 June 2018.

Receipts from the plastic bag levy for each year are published in the Environment Fund Annual Accounts. The 2017 Annual Accounts will be published on my Department’s website after they have been audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General, while copies of the Annual Accounts, up to and including 2016, are available on my Department’s website at the following weblink: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/en-ie/environment/topics/environmental-protection-and-awareness/environmental-fund/Pages/default.aspx.

The origins of the plastic bag levy lay in addressing the high instances of plastic bag littering which blighted our country. The levy has effected sustainable behavioural changes and practices resulting in a positive impact on litter and our environment generally. The type of bags referred to in the Question fall outside of the scope of the regulations and statistics on the level of their sales are not held by my Department. People tend to reuse such bags and not dispose of them as quickly. For that reason they have not been subject to a levy.

Environmental enforcement inspections in relation to the plastic bag levy are undertaken by local authorities. In addition to the role of the local authorities in carrying out environmental enforcement inspections, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners is responsible for compliance in relation to the collection of the levy. Such responsibilities include, inter alia, the identification of accountable persons; carrying out verification checks relating to the accuracy of the returns received; and pursuing accountable persons who fail to deliver returns and payments within the statutory time limits.