Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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422. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 499 of 26 February 2019, if his attention has been drawn to a perceived anomaly in the response concerned (details supplied); he will retract his previous response; and the reason Ireland did not object to the position of the council of delaying the 90% separate collection target by five years. [10594/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Commission document published on 28 May 2018 contained a 90% collection rate for plastic bottles by 2025, as pointed out by the Deputy. However, this changed very early on during negotiations between Member States in the Council to 2030, which became the de facto working date for negotiations. The Deputy will be well aware that negotiations such as these can be both difficult and sensitive. This is particularly true of this proposal which was supported by all Member States and led to negotiations being concluded quickly. That said, some Member States, of which Ireland was not one, indicated that the target of 90% by 2025 was unworkable. Ireland was of the view throughout that the ambition of the Directive had to be achievable by all Member States in order to be effective. It was also important that the Directive would be acceptable to and agreed by all Member States as a priority so that a new collection rate target for plastic bottles would be agreed and would deliver tangible results for European citizens before the end of the term of the current European Parliament and Commission.

In that context, I was pleased to see that both a political agreement was achieved by the Member States and the European Parliament before the end of 2018 and also that the collection target has been brought forward from 2030 to 2029, as indicated in my response to Question No 499 of 2019. I recently commissioned a national study to assess how Ireland can achieve this target as soon as possible.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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423. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment further to Parliamentary Question No. 500 of 26 February 2019, (details supplied), his views on the perceived disproportionate consultation with a company by his Department in relation to the single use plastics directive; his further views on whether there is a potential conflict of interest in view of the fact the company, a producer led EPR system, would have vested interests in preventing the set up of deposit refund schemes as provided for in article 9 of the directive; and the reason the draft report from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment, which was noted as strictly confidential, was shared and the CEO and executive manager for strategy and policy of the company invited to discuss it and propose amendments thereto. [10693/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Repak were not the only experts consulted in relation to the proposed EU directive on single use plastics. In consideration of the above proposal, relevant experts were consulted as the need arose. For the purpose of developing negotiating positions and ensuring we had all the relevant knowledge, short, relevant extracts were forwarded to necessary experts. I believe this is common practice among all Member States and particularly in technical discussions of this type.

In relation to consultation with Repak, the Deputy should note that Repak operates under an approval from the Minister to act as a national compliance scheme for packaging. Producers of packaging have obligations under the EU Packaging Directive, as transposed in Ireland by the European Communities (Packaging) Regulations 2014. Repak is a not for profit organisation, which carries out these regulatory obligations on behalf of their members.

Under the terms of their approval, they are tasked with ensuring Ireland meets its EU targets under the Packaging Directive and to report to the Minister annually on progress. They are also obliged to keep updated on relevant regulatory developments at a national and EU level and to assist, advise and contribute to the development of Ireland’s position on such regulatory matters.

In relation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee Report, this was shared with Repak in the interest of ensuring that the information contained therein was accurate.