{"id":509097,"date":"2026-05-29T17:55:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509097\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:55:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:55:14","slug":"fine-gael-councillor-hired-by-re-turn-to-lobby-minister-responsible-for-deposit-return-scheme-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/509097\/","title":{"rendered":"Fine Gael councillor hired by Re-turn to lobby Minister responsible for Deposit Return Scheme \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sitting Fine Gael councillor <\/a>has been hired by Re-turn to lobby the Fine Gael Minister responsible for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), prompting accusations of a \u201cshocking\u201d conflict of interests.<\/p>\n

Eoin O\u2019Driscoll, who is an elected member of D\u00fan Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council<\/a>, was appointed as the company\u2019s public and regulatory affairs manager in March. He previously worked for Teneo, the advisory firm that manages public relations for Re-turn.<\/p>\n

He has lobbied Alan Dillon<\/a>, his party colleague and Minister of State <\/a>with responsibility for the DRS, on several occasions since his appointment, seeking legislative changes on behalf of Re-turn.<\/p>\n

It is understood these included the removal of VAT on unredeemed deposits, which would exempt the company from having to pay 23 per cent of the money unreclaimed by consumers to Revenue.<\/p>\n

At least \u20ac66.7 million in unredeemed deposits was reported by Re-turn during the first year of the scheme and a further \u20ac55 million had been accumulated during the first nine months of 2025.<\/p>\n

Aont\u00fa leader Peadar T\u00f3ib\u00edn <\/a>described the situation as \u201ca shocking\u201d conflict of interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s disgraceful,\u201d he said. \u201cHere we have a Fine Gael representative on both sides of the lobbying equation \u2013 that is the very definition of a conflict of interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a Fine Gael elected representative lobbying a Fine Gael Minister, essentially looking for Re-turn to keep millions of euro in VAT for itself, taking it out of State services like schools, roads, hospitals and welfare.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FineFine Gael Cllr Eoin O’Driscoll: ‘I take my responsibilities to our local community … very seriously.’ <\/p>\n

However, O\u2019Driscoll denied there was any conflict of interest in relation to his role as a councillor, his employment with Re-turn, or his lobbying of a party colleague on the company\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take my responsibilities to our local community and the trust placed in public office very seriously,\u201d he said. \u201cI am in full compliance with all guidelines and rules related to my role as a county councillor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Official records show O\u2019Driscoll was involved in lobbying for Re-turn in the first quarter of this year, during which time the company outlined proposals for legislative changes to make the DRS \u201cmore effective and efficient\u201d.<\/p>\n

There were several meetings with Dillon <\/a>and his special adviser to discuss the scheme and these proposals for legislative changes.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Re-turn confirmed that the company had engaged with the Government <\/a>in relation to the application of VAT on revenue from unredeemed deposits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is 23 per cent VAT payable on all unclaimed deposits. This means that reported figures relating to unclaimed deposits should be understood as gross figures and do not account for the VAT payable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The spokesman said Re-turn operates in full compliance with all applicable governance, ethics and government engagement requirements. \u201cAll relevant activity is recorded and published in accordance with the Regulation of Lobbying Act,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, did not comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sitting Fine Gael councillor has been hired by Re-turn to lobby the Fine Gael Minister responsible for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,46093,18,13,14,4771,553,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":["post-509097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-deposit-return-scheme","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fine-gael","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116659154668852147","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}