Vol. 554 No. 5
1525 Mr. P. McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the amount of money collected by his Department by way of the levy on plastic bags; and the projects which were funded or which benefited by this money. [16467/02]
Receipts remitted to my Department by the Revenue Commissioners in respect of the plastic bag levy for the initial four month collection period – 4 March to 30 June 2002 – amount to just over €3.8 million to date.
The cost of administering the levy is met from levy receipts. In accordance with a service level agreement between my Department and the Revenue Commissioners, an initial non-recurring payment of €1.2 million has been paid to Revenue in respect of start-up costs in implementing the levy. Ongoing costs, in light of experience, will also be paid from levy receipts. In addition, just over €358,000 was expended on an intensive public information campaign undertaken by my Department prior to the introduction of the levy. No specific projects have been funded from levy receipts to date.
