Retailers and the main body representing consumers have given a cautious welcome to the announcement that a tax on plastic carrier bags, originally mooted three years ago, will be introduced next February.
Customers will be charged 12 pence, or 15 cents, per bag at the point of sale.
However, the draft regulations published yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, still face a two-month consultation with interested parties and may yet be changed.
Mr Dempsey said yesterday plastic bags were a "visible and persistent component of litter pollution in towns, throughout the countryside and along our coastline".
He said the primary purpose was to change consumer behaviour.
Mr Dempsey said it was conservatively estimated that 1.2 billion such bags were provided free to consumers by retail outlets every year.
Retailers will be obliged by law to pass on the charge from February 4th. The revenue raised will be put back into environmental initiatives.
Mr Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland, welcomed the news yesterday. He said his organisation had supported the charge, provided it was made at the point of sale.
Mr Eamonn Quinn, marketing director of Superquinn, said the issue of the timing of the new tax had been crucial. Retailers were keen that it be introduced outside the busy Christmas period and that it not be brought in at the same time as the euro introduction.
Ms Ailish Forde, director general of RGDATA, the organisation representing small retail outlets, said she welcomed that there would be further consultation before the introduction of the tax.