Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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74. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if discussions with the various sectors have commenced on the expectations of stakeholders to deliver circular economy strategies; if he will outline the greatest barriers which the Government is encountering in delivering climate targets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27581/24]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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It is well known that sectors such as food, construction and transport can greatly reduce their negative impact on the environment - not just emissions but biodiversity-impacting pollution waste. I know that the Minister has ambitions to do this. Have we already started getting the sectors together to make the changes that are needed?

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Ireland’s strategic approach to the circular economy is set out in the whole-of-government Circular Economy Strategy 2022-2023. The Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 provides a statutory basis for future iterations of the strategy and requires that such iterations include sectoral targets aimed at promoting circularity across the range of resource-intensive economic sectors specified in the Act. I believe Deputy Bruton asked for those sectoral targets to be included and I thank him for that amendment.

My Department is currently preparing the second iteration of the strategy. A circularity gap report has been commissioned as part of this work. This report will provide the required evidence base and technical analysis for the new strategy.

My Department is committed to conducting a comprehensive public and stakeholder consultation as part of the preparation of the strategy.

Two coalition roundtables were held in May and June with key stakeholders to assist in contributing to the emerging findings in the circularity gap report and help to shape the outcomes of the report by identifying barriers and enablers in sectors such as agriculture, bioeconomy, built environment and consumables to improve circularity. In 2023, despite significant climate action achievements in Ireland, particularly in renewable energy, active travel and funding delivery rates of committed actions for the year were not equal to the actions set out in the Climate Action Plan. This creates challenges for legally binding EU and national emissions reduction targets. The Climate Action Plan 2024 is focused on high-impact actions that will accelerate the action required to respond to the climate crisis, putting climate solutions at the centre of Ireland’s social and economic development.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate what is happening, but when we passed that circular economy Act it was enshrined that we would have the second circular economy strategy within six months. The Government has not activated that section, so as a result the six months did not start. That is a sleight of hand. In countries that have been successful in this field, they had voluntary compacts developed before the statutory obligations came in, particularly in the Netherlands where sectors came together. I put it to the Minister of State that today we hear about transport and how we are deviating, but if we looked at material use, reuse, repair, waste recovery and optimum market design in the transport sector - and had all the interests in the room - we would be in a different place. There would be more sharing, and we would push through some of the things holding us back. I urge the Minister of State, instead of a consultation, to get people doing things collectively and then bring in the obligations as quickly as they can be developed.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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As the Deputy has said, we are within the law. The six months starts from the time that section is commenced. I understand the Deputy's frustration. It is taking longer than expected. The problem is more complex than we thought. It will be delivered by the end of this year. Part of what we needed to do was commission a national circularity assessment and material flow analysis to understand the sectoral priorities and to understand how circular the Irish economy is or is not. What are the different bits that need to be improved? When you set targets, you have to make sure they are achievable, realistic and ambitious. To do that you need to sit down with the different sectors. In May, 100 stakeholders participated in the first round and then another 100 took part in June. The different sectors we are looking at are construction, agriculture, retail, packaging, textiles and electronic equipment. The Deputy makes the case that in order for this to work we need to have a sectoral compact and make sure we are not imposing targets and rules on different sectors. He says we should sit down with them and say let us all fix this problem together. The Deputy is pointing at the Dutch as an example of working sectoral compacts. I met with the Dutch embassy and have spoken with the Dutch. We are following that model, partly because it was proposed by Deputy Bruton during the drafting of the legislation. We are working on it and will get there this year. We will have sectoral compacts. The extent of producer responsibility in packaging for the deposit return scheme is an example of how the industry can sit down to make something work in practice.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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There were loads of things that could be done. Some 60% of what we discard goes into the wrong place where it cannot be recovered. There is no question of recovery, recycling or reuse. That was an early win. We do not have to wait for statutory obligations to come in to get the sectors around the table eliminating things like that. That is where my frustration comes from. It is a lot of the stuff before you get to the point of obligations, regulatory impact assessment and all of that heavy artillery. You could be getting a lot of momentum built in these sectors.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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It is important to remember that we need progress in this area. We also need co-ordinated progress. We need to have regard to the extent to which we address the issues in a meaningful way without impacting negatively on another community. The danger is having a Dublin solution to a nationwide problem. It does not work that way. It has to be a case of bringing all the people of the country together. There are now people who are worried about having to pay the largest price, which will ultimately affect their livelihoods and perhaps the country's economic prospects. This needs to be borne in mind to a greater extent than heretofore.

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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It is not the case that I am waiting for these reports before I can do anything in the sectors. We are really trying to make progress already. I have, for example, proposed mandatory segregation of waste on commercial operators, which was never there. People in their homes have to segregate their waste but there was no obligation for businesses to do that. I am also changing the rules on construction and demolition waste, because that is the largest sector and opportunity for improvement. As a result of new national determinations on end of waste that have come from the EPA, we will save roughly half of our soil and clay construction waste, which will be recycled. That is roughly 5 million tonnes this year. I am looking to change the exemptions on land filling, which should also help. We are making progress in all of those areas.

I turn to Deputy Durkan's question about being Dublin focused and making sure things work outside Dublin. This is always a risk with all Government policy. The Constitution states that the Dáil sits in Dublin. However, I guarantee that the 200 stakeholders we have consulted in the past two months have been outside of Dublin.