Press Release: Environment  21 June 2006

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Green Party says greater enforcement must accompany new bag levy

Levy to be increased to 19c by end of summer

The Green Party says that the plan to increase the plastic bag levy to 19 cent will only work if it is accompanied by much greater enforcement measures.

Green Party Environment spokesperson Ciaran Cuffe TD said: "The introduction of the plastic levy in 2002 made a dramatic difference to the way we needlessly consumed plastic bags. In its first year the numbers of plastic bags used fell from almost a billion to 85 million. However, it has been creeping back up since then. In 2005 we used 115 million plastic bags.

"There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that some retailers are not charging for bags all the time. I asked the Minister for the Environment Dick Roche for figures in May 2006 on those who had been prosecuted for breaching the legislation and all I received by way of reply was a commitment that he would write to local authorities asking them to carry out inspections. While I support the increase in the levy I would suggest that until inspection and enforcement is stepped up it may prove meaningless.

"It is regrettable that Mr Roche's predecessor wrote the legislation in such a way that the levy increase beyond 19 cent would involve re-writing the legislation," concluded Deputy Cuffe