95% reduction in plastic bag usage

Plastic bag usage has been practically wiped out as a direct result of the decade-old levy on the environmental hazard.

Department of Environment secretary general John McCarthy, responding to queries from Labour TD Ged Nash at the latest Public Accounts Committee meeting, said the levy has been a major economic and environmental success for the country.

He said when the measure was imposed 12 years ago, some 1.2bn plastic bags were being used in Ireland by shoppers every year, a situation that was causing untold damage to the environment.