Written answer
Departmental Policies
115. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the way in which his Department is ensuring financial transparency and oversight of the Re-Turn deposit scheme funding, given that unredeemed deposits are a core component of the funding model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53855/26]
Comment on this
The governance and oversight framework for all matters, including financial, for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is set out in the Separate Collection (Deposit Return Scheme) Regulations 2024 (S.I. No. 33 of 2024) (the 2024 Regulations), the Ministerial Approval issued to Re-turn under those regulations, and the Code of Corporate Governance for Compliance Schemes.
Regulation 4 of the 2024 Regulations provides how the costs of operating a scheme shall be recouped by the scheme operator and this includes revenue from unredeemed deposits.
Regulation 5 of the 2024 Regulations provides for the conditions attaching to an Approval issued to an Approved Body for the purposes of DRS and this includes providing the Minister with all reasonable information to verify compliance with the Regulations.
Further detailed obligations on Re-turn, the scheme operator, are set out in the Approval issued under the 2024 Regulations. Those obligations include the requirement to report to the Minister annually on operational and financial matters.
In July 2025, Re-turn published its 2024 Annual Report & Financial Statements. A link to the report can be found here: re-turn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024-Annual-Report.pdf
It is expected that its 2025 Annual Report & Financial Statements will be published in the coming weeks.
Re-turn is responsible for all operational and funding matters relating to DRS and while I have no function in day-to-day business operations, officials from the department monitor performance of the scheme closely and meet with Re-turn monthly to review progress. Quarterly meetings are held to discuss strategic priorities and governance matters and these include updates on unredeemed deposits and other financial matters.