Farm plastic at centre of Hogan-Lowry meeting

A new plan for the 20,000 tonnes-plus of Irish farm plastic recycled per year was the topic of the controversial meeting between Environment Minister Phil Hogan and Michael Lowry, TD — which took place six days after the Moriarty Report branded Mr Lowry as corrupt.

The meeting between Minister Phil Hogan and members of his staff with Mr Lowry and representatives of Filmco Ltd took place on Mar 28, 2011. Jack and Edmund O’Reilly of Filmco outlined to Minister Hogan their plans for a project as part of the Government-approved national scheme to recover waste farm plastic. They explained that their company built a premises in 2007 to wash farm plastics, which they assumed would be supplied from farms at a certain gate fee.

Instead, the recycling industry found a less costly way to deal with the waste.