Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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89. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on right-to-repair regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44496/21]

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Repairing products, and making products which are more easily repairable, is central to circular economy policy in Ireland and the EU. “A Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy”, Ireland’s national waste policy 2020-2025, announced a number of initiatives to support repair activities including a commitment that the National Waste Management Plan due in 2022 will contain targets for reuse and repair.

The draft Whole-of-Government Circular Economy Strategy, which is currently being finalised, also recognises the role of repair in advancing the circular economy.

This point is also addressed by the European Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan 2020, which recognizes the importance of empowering consumers. The Commission is expected to proposed legislation to ensure that product information about durability, reparability and green claims is trustworthy and is working towards establishing a new ‘Right to Repair’. Ireland will support and promote this ambition, and believes that a wide-ranging 'Right to Repair' can most efficiently be introduced at EU rather than national level.

Some progress has already been made. Regulations under the Ecodesign Directive have been enacted by the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Those regulations require that refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and televisions are longer lasting and more reparable, and professional repairers can access spare parts for a minimum of 10 years.

The Circular Economy Bill, which will be published in the coming months, will provide the necessary legislative basis for several key measures of national waste policy, including the Circular Economy Strategy, the EPA’s new Circular Economy Programme, and the inclusion of targets for reuse and repair in the National Waste Management Plan.