Friends of the Earth

Lobbying Organisation Friends of the Earth

Date published 21 May, 2018

Relevant Matter Legislation

Public Policy Area Environment

Period 1 Jan, 2018 to 30 Apr, 2018

Specific Details The Waste Reduction Bill

Intended results To pass the Waste Reduction Bill

Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity Oisin Coghlan, Cara Augustenborg

Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?) No

Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign? Yes

What is the directive you gave to the grassroots campaigners? Sign a petition calling on the Government to introduce legislation to encourage waste reduction in Ireland and improve recycling, specifically in relation to single use plastic items. We also encouraged people to ring Minister Naughten's office or email or tweet at him directly to encourage legislation that would reduce waste and plastic.

Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client? No

Lobbying activity

The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.

Phone call (2-5)

Phone calls with Eamon Ryan and his office on the Waste Reduction Bill and the strategy for promoting its passage in the Dail.

Social Media (11-20)

Tweets at Minister Naughten promoting the waste reduction bill, encouraging the 'latte levy' (or a levy on single use packaging items such as coffee cups). Tweets were focussed around Earth Day when Friends of the Earth organised a 'sick of plastic' campaign encouraging shoppers to leave their unwanted plastic in supermarkets, and when Minister Naughten announced that he would not consider a levy on single use packaging items.

Designated public officials lobbied

The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them. As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.

Denis Naughten Minister (Department of Environment, Climate and Communications)

Denis Naughten TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)

Eamon Ryan TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)