The Green Party has called on the Government to set up a National Recycling Agency to promote waste reduction and recycling and help save jobs at the Irish Glass Bottle Company in Ringsend.
Following the closure of the Irish Glass Bottle Company earlier this month with the loss of 375 jobs, the State has no glass bottle production facillities.
"We are calling on the Government to throw an employment lifeline to the workers in Ringsend by setting up a National Recycling Agency, part of whose responsibility would be managing the Irish Glass Bottle Company, Ardagh Glass", Mr Ciaran Cuffe, Green Party Environment spokesperson said at a joint Green Party/SIPTU press conference today.
"Instead of building incinerators to burn waste we should be maintaining existing jobs and creating new employment opportunities in recycling," he added.
SIPTU Branch representative, Mr. Gerry Lynch supported the Green Party’s proposals, saying: "One of the knock-on effects of the Ardagh closure could be increased costs to Irish consumers because they will have to source more glass bottles from abroad".
"We are appealing to the Government to take every step possible to either get the company to overturn its ridiculous plan to close this profitable plant or for the State to take over the running of this vital cog in the waste management strategy."
The Ardagh Workers Committee chairman, Mick Duffy, said: "In so far as the workers are concerned we believe that the Government is duty bound to intervene even at this late stage to keep the plant open and to get the company to honour the LRC recommendation."
