Ireland plans to double plastic bag tax as; firstly a way of protecting the country's environment and secondly, to increase the local government's balance to reinvest in both the economy and furthering environmental schemes already in place. This also comes as a useful technique to get the green party of their backs and show their supporters and critics that they to care about the environment and want to help build a greener future.

It was well noted that the Irish Republic was the first nation to start adding tax to plastic bags, and now they will be increasing this tax to 40p per bag. Although at first this may seem like a large price to pay for a simple plastic bag, however, the costs that are associated with plastic bags are now entering the real cost they incur on the environment. By having this higher price on the bags it not only deters people from forgetting to take their own reusable bags with them but it will also lowers the amount of plastic bags disposed after being bought. This is not only beneficial for the environment but also lowers the costs that the government spends on cleaning up after them.

The seven-year policy of charging for the bags has brought around the figure of £109m in tax. But more critically to the environment, it has also greatly reduced the Irish's reliance on throwaway bags. In fact the yearly use of plastic bags use to be around the figure of 1.2bn per year, this is equates to more than 300 bags for person!

In 2002 when the tax was first introduced, shops in the Republic handed out over 22m plastic which was less than 10 percent of the 277m that were usually bought during the same three month test period. This not only shows the quick success of the scheme but also shows that we, as people, have been using the bags not just due to them being convenient to hold out bought items but also due to them being, cheap and easy to dispose of. By bringing the cost of plastic bags up people have started to become more money conscious and with the recent economical state the bag tax may have been one of the strong steps on which the recession was slowed down.

The success of Ireland's plans to double plastic bag tax will be been seen world wide, with a majority of counties looking to also take on the same view on plastic bags. With the worldwide recession still not firmly put in the past it is likely that the idea of bag tax will not only make more countries follow it simply for the environmental benefits but also for the revenue It will generate the governments of each country.