Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Malcolm Noonan (GP), Agricultural Panel

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the Bill.
Section 10 amends section 82D of the Environmental Protection Agency Act. It is stated that the agency, when considering applications in emergency circumstances, shall do so in a manner consistent with the objectives of section 15(1) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 to the extent that it considers it practicable, taking account of the emergency nature of the applications. Like my colleague, I believe there is an issue around exceptional circumstances and the emergency nature of applications. This is something I look forward to debating when we get to Committee Stage. However, I welcome elements of the Bill that strengthen the powers and functionality of the EPA.
A point was raised on the Blackwater fish kill. To the best of my knowledge, the EPA has never revoked an integration pollution control licence for a facility. It is pretty clear that a facility was at the core of the Blackwater problem. It is vital to strengthen the EPA's role in such incidents in terms of accountability and prosecution.
Section 12 covers provisions on the transboundary convention where an activity is likely to have transboundary effects on a state outside the EU. I welcome that. We will have a scheduled debate on Committee Stage on a public accounts report of the Westminster Government on the Sellafield reprocessing facility. The transboundary consultation was inadequate in relation to that. While I welcome the provision in this Bill, we need our near neighbours to ensure proper and adequate consultation, particularly on the nuclear industry in the UK. There should also be adequate consultation on the report, which is deeply worrying in respect of the activities of the reprocessing plant.
I want to refer specifically to the issues concerning green public procurement. I recall that during John Gormley's time in the Custom House, we were having long conversations about green public procurement. That is a long time ago but I welcome the fact that we are now moving significantly into this space and considering local authorities and other public bodies that are significant purchasers of goods and services. I remember being involved with issues concerning ground granulated blast furnace slag, which is a low-carbon cement, and also Forest Stewardship Council timber, Fairtrade goods and bioplastics. All these have huge potential to make a positive impact on the environment and should be the default in using the purchasing power of public bodies. In procurement strategies and tendering for projects, we should be moving into the space of ethical goods and goods that are low carbon where possible. I welcome the elements of the Bill in this regard.
The last point I want to make is on recycling in general and the Minister of State's responsibility for the circular economy. We really should be doing a lot more in Ireland. We export most of our waste and simply do not have the necessary facilities here. We do not have paper mills or metal recycling. Very little plastic recycling is taking place here. We do not have the digestion facilities needed for an ambitious biomethane strategy or the electrolysers for a hydrogen strategy.
Applying for permission and an EPA licence has meant going into a process with no end in sight. It can take any amount of time to win permits. The Planning and Development Act 2024 introduced guaranteed decision-making times for An Coimisiún Pleanála. This Bill seeks to bring in guaranteed decision-making timelines for EPA licences, which I welcome.
The Bill went through pre-legislative scrutiny but has since been changed. The Minister removed the power granted to him in the Bill to impose incremental levies like the plastic bag levy on producers rather than retailers. This was done because the Minister wanted to avoid the future possibility of collecting a disposable coffee cup levy. I was looking at a question by Cathal Haughey of Fingal County Council on 8 December and the response from David Storey, director of environment, expressing disappointment that places like Fingal and Killarney, where the introduction of the latte levy into legislation would be of real benefit, have been advised by the Department that there is a delay in the introduction of the levy.
Irish Business Against Litter has reported a 60% fall in bottle and can litter in our towns since the deposit return scheme came in. This is why the bottles and cans are mostly gone. The coffee cups are really visible, however. We all know that. Irish Business Against Litter's report this year was crystal clear. It states:
Coffee cups remained one of the most commonly found forms of litter and was evident in one fifth of all sites surveyed. "A real disappointment in a generally positive year has been the likely collapse of reusable coffee cup schemes in towns such as Killarney," says Mr Horgan. "It is apparent that such schemes will only work with statutory backing. As our data today bears out, without Government intervention coffee cups will remain an unsightly and entirely unnecessary blot on the landscape across our towns. The prevarication from Government on the issue is striking – a levy was promised all of four years ago – and sends out a worrying signal. Weaning ourselves off single-use coffee cups should not be such a big deal."
I ask the Minister to retain the power to place a levy on producers, even if he does not use it without consulting retailers and cafés first. I am aware that the Department is talking about carrying out a regulatory impact assessment, but this was already carried out in 2022 and is published on its website. The cup levy was made policy not by the Green Party but by a Fine Gael Minister, the Minister of State's former colleague Richard Bruton, in 2019.
The deposit return scheme has been a huge success, increasing recycling from 49% to 91% and making our towns and beaches cleaner. However, now there is a problem with enforcement. Some retailers and takeaway food outlets have been selling cans without the Re-turn logo, as people discover when they are not accepted at the supermarket when they go to return them. Local authorities say they need the powers to issue fixed-penalty notices for selling these products without the Re-turn logos. It is important that enforcement be followed up.
I will be tabling amendments on Committee Stage to restore the power of the Minister to place a levy on producers rather than retailers and to allow for fixed-penalty notices for takeaway outlets selling cans without the Re-turn logo. These are two important provisions that need to be included in the Bill. However, I welcome the introduction of the Bill and look forward to engagement on Committee Stage.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17