"free" plastic bag in corner shops

I have noticed that a few corner shops are handing out "free" plastic bags to customers. I have seen the same shop do it a few times, and never ring it on the till. When I pointed this out to them today, they told me that they are giving them out free.
As far as I know, this is illegal under the plastic bag tax system.
I pointed this out and they looked at me in horror. Is this something that is being noticed by others? I do feel sorry for the small shops, who I feel may be doing this to keep favour with shoppers.
I do not want to do anything about it, but if it is more common, RGDATA or the dept of the environment may want to repeat the message about the bag tax.

I have been given 'free' plastic bags on a number of occasions in off licences and chinese takeaways.

I thought that those bags which are practically transparent, approx. A4 sized, and flimsy to the point of uselessness were exempt?

Like the kind you get 'weighed' sweets in?

Other than those, I have admittedly also been provided with 'standard' plastic bags on occasion - free of charge.

[broken link removed]

I have to say that I was associated with a small retail business that gave out free plastic bags to customers.
We did however remit to the department the relevant amount for every plastic bag given out. We paid this based on the number of bags we bought in regardless of the use they were put to.
I realise that this was probably wrong and it hurt me more than it hurt you but it was very hard to get the staff to suddenly start charging for them so we just let it go.

I was in Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt last week buying a pre wrapped turkey. The thing was leaking/oozing bodily fluids through the poorly packaged wrapper. When I got to the checkout it left a pretty "wet" stain on the conveyor belt. I asked could I have a bag to put the leaking thing in as I did not want it leaking all over my "forever" bags. I was told in no uncertain terms that unless I paid for one I could not have it. I protested that it was their leaking turkey that was causing the problem. To no avail. Even the checkout supervisor wasn't budging.
I have to say I was pretty disgusted by their attitude. I also noticed no effort was made to wipe the wet stain left on the conveyor belt.....nice for the next person coming along.

rob30 said:

I do not want to do anything about it, but if it is more common, RGDATA or the dept of the environment may want to repeat the message about the bag tax.

Click to expand...

The message about the bag tax? As Lou Reed said "don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear". A few years ago Tony Blair's Government in the UK conducted a study into a "plastic bag levy" proposal along the same lines as our own. They found that the Irish "plastic bag levy" was NOT environmentally friendly. Among the reasons they cited for this was that Irish sales of plastic refuse bags went through the roof once the bag levy came in and they found that the net reduction in plastic use was a lot less than our govt like to make out. (Binbags apparently use proportionally a lot more plastic than shopping bags)

steph1 said:

I have been given 'free' plastic bags on a number of occasions in off licences and chinese takeaways.

Click to expand...

If my local chinese gave me my takeaway in a paper bag I would refuse to take it off them, for fear of having smelly gunge spill on my car seats. And yes, paper bags are just an ideal way of carrying beer or wine bottles on a wet night.