Sir, - At last we have taken seriously the environmental damage caused by consumer plastic packaging - shop bags, fast food containers, wrappers, etc.
The oceans contain, not thousands, but millions of tons of plastic waste. We are ton by ton destroying our seas, rivers, and lakes throughout the "developed" world. Not much of a legacy to leave future generations.
My colleague Noel Dempsey TD, Minister for the Environment, does not lack courage, but I fear he is too optimistic! The plastics industry, controlled by the oil multinationals, will spend vast sums to protect its interests, as it did in France to defeat proposed legislation to introduce an eco-tax on "plastics".
I want to assure the Minister and our children that I, as an Irish MEP, will seek to amend the EU directive that prevents each member state from dealing with the destruction of the environment as it sees fit.
It is called subsidiarity. - Yours, etc.,
Niall Andrews, MEP, European Parliament, Dublin 2.