Shopkeepers face fines of up to €3,000 for dodging plastic bag tax

SHOPKEEPERS who give away plastic bags instead of charging the 15 cent Government levy are facing a crackdown and fines of up to €3,000.

Retailers have already sidestepped the fee by offering shoppers paper carriers instead but now the Government is getting tough on free plastic bags.

Environment Minister Dick Roche is ordering councils to stamp out the practice of giving away bags and to ensure shopkeepers charge the 15c levy.

Council officials could be sent into stores to carry out lightning checks.

An Environment Department official said yesterday: “Mr Roche has written to local authorities asking them to do checks and enforce the law.

“Each local authority is responsible for enforcing this and spot-checks would seem the most straightforward way of doing this.”

A network of council officials has been created to enforce the law and co-ordinate the clampdown.

Since the levy was brought in four years ago shoppers have paid out €55 million for bags.

Money from the tax goes into a pot for environment projects like depots where householders can bring their recyclable waste.

The penalties for failing to charge for plastic bags are a fine of up to €3,000, a 12-month jail term or both.

But the minister’s official said the penalties applied to a range of offences under laws governing recycling and disposal of rubbish.

In the first case of its kind, a Dublin record store was fined €150 in the district court last June for failing to charge the 15c levy.

RGDATA, which represents Ireland’s grocers, said members were happy to comply with the law.

A spokeswoman said: “They don’t see complying with the law as an additional burden and are happy to comply as much as they can.”

The association was now reminding its members of the law and the minister’s statement.

Vincent Jennings, from the Irish Retail Newsagents Association, said the levy had been a great success. The amount of plastic bags used by newsagents has fallen dramatically, he said.

“We had been concerned with the levy initially but it has taken off well. There has been a sea-change in attitudes and people bring their own bags now,” he said.

Meanwhile, environmental group Friends of the Earth, yesterday called for the 15c levy to be doubled.

Friends of the Earth director Oisín Coghlan, said: “The effect of the plastic bag tax is wearing off. Four years ago the 15c price tag made people think twice. They began bringing their own bags to the shops. Now it seems more and more people are just paying the tax. The levy has been a public policy success story. The best way to protect that success is to restore that original shock value by doubling the tax.”