I want to raise the issue of lithium batteries which are everywhere now. Lithium is in rechargeable batteries, disposable vape battery packs and mobile phones. I think the Minister has a background in chemistry so he will know that lithium is highly reactive. I visited a waste to energy facility in Dublin recently and learned that lithium batteries are a huge problem because they end up in the waste stream and can explode in the chambers, causing a lot of damage. What progress is the Government making to support proper recycling and processing of these lithium batteries? What is being done to make their disposal and recycling safe, where possible?

The Deputy is right that in a previous life I was a chemist. Lithium does not fall from the sky. It is dug out of a huge hole in the ground and anybody who says there are no environmental consequences from an electric car is not telling the truth. In some far flung place in the world somebody is driving a gigantic Volvo BM, spewing thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to try to get a bit of lithium out of the ground. It is not an inconsequential extraction. The Deputy is right that there have been issues with regard to their safety, particularly in phones and poorly-built toys from countries outside the EU that might not have the same regulations as us, particularly a CE mark. I will ask the Minister with responsibility to respond to the Deputy directly. He raises a very valid point but it may be something that is more pertinent for the European Council than this House.