Vol. 547 No. 1
759 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if, in view of the proposals made to his Department regarding the introduction of the levy on plastic bags, he will outline his plans to postpone the introduction of the levy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1784/02]
Draft regulations to introduce a levy on plastic shopping bags were released for public consultation on 18 September 2001. These proposed that the levy, to be charged at 15 cent per bag with effect from 4 February 2002, would apply to all plastic bags suitable for use by customers at point-of-sale in retail outlets, subject to certain specified exemptions – for example, smaller bags used for non-packaged fresh food products. A two month consultation period was provided to give interested parties an opportunity to make comments or observations in relation to the draft regulations. A number of interested parties sought changes to, or exemptions from, the regulations. Requests were also received from trade representative bodies for the levy to be postponed until after the dual currency period associated with the euro changeover. Following detailed consideration of all submissions received, I made the final regulations on 19 December 2001. These provide for the introduction of the levy from 4 March 2002, thereby avoiding any clash with the euro changeover period, and allowing retailers extra time to put in place any necessary changes or measures to implement the levy.
