Fine Gael criticised for fast fashion clampdown after Shein support
Enterprise Minister Simon Coveney - who is no longer a TD - came under fire after he celebrated the opening of a new Shein office in Dublin in May 2023.
He cut the ribbon at the new office and hailed the 'vote of confidence that another global leader has chosen Ireland to launch their EMEA HQ and highlights that we have the environment to attract FDI companies to our shores'.
He faced criticism at the time for his support of the company.
Global retail giant Shein was previously the subject of a Channel 4 documentary, Untold: Inside the Shein Machine, which accused it of mistreating workers.
It alleged that factory workers were allowed to take just one day off every month. It also claimed that up to 75pc of their daily salary was withheld if a worker made a mistake on an item.
Last January, a BBC investigation highlighted 75-hour weeks for workers in contravention of Chinese labour laws.
Junior minister at the Department of Enterprise Alan Dillon has now launched a public consultation on circular textiles on how to make it easier for people to get rid of used clothes 'in a more sustainable manner'.
He said he is now developing a national policy on the issue.
'We are producing and consuming and dumping clothes and producing textiles in a completely insane manner,' the minister said on RTÉ.
'Our approach to our use of textiles and clothing needs to begin firstly with consumer behaviour and each one of us must think about the amount of clothes we purchase and how long we wear them and how we dispose of them.'
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He said 65pc of used textiles mostly are incinerated or go to landfill.
'The textile industry operates in a linear take, make, waste model.'
But the Labour party has now accused Fine Gael of a U-turn on fast fashion.
'Fine Gael clearly have no interest in taking on what is not only a planet crisis, but a people crisis,' said Labour TD Ciaran Ahern.
'Fast fashion's ecological footprint is enormous and changes are needed to incentivise sustainable consumption patterns.'
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