Building Ireland’s First Repair Declaration

• Article by the Repair Acts Ireland Team: Maya Vizel-Schwartz; Alma Clavin; Teresa Dillon (column 3)

Between February and October 2022, Repair Acts Ireland ran over more than 20 workshops around the county to find out what people are repairing. Some 200 people have shared with us their stories about objects they have repaired or have failed to repair by uploading images of objects they have repaired to our website: repairacts.ie.

In uploading images of repaired objects, people have also contributed their views on what should go into Ireland’s first Repair Declaration – that is a set of statements and actions that we can get behind at a local and national level and that will help us be able to repair stuff more easily in our areas.

What we found

We know that in Europe 77% of EU consumers would rather repair their goods than buy new ones (1), but they ultimately have to replace or discard goods because of the cost of repairs and lack of service provided. In a similar way, the overwhelming response in our workshops was that people wanted to have the opportunity to repair more goods, more often.

Specifically, people across Westmeath spoke of a variety of ways to promote repair, in the home and in towns and villages, and to make repair more accessible and affordable.

These include investing in repair and craft skills and education; more support for repair business and the creation of community spaces for repair; promotion of high quality materials, more durable products and access to spare parts; and, finally, a comprehensive repair directory for the county.

1. Invest and Promote Repair Skills and Education

Enhanced skills and education was a strong theme. Many people realise that repair can enhance fine motor skills, for children and adults. There was a sense that many craft repair skills have been lost, or are no longer valued, and that a revival is required in craft skills to promote apprenticeships and repair education more generally. This, in turn, could mean there would be more skilled and qualified craftspeople and hands-on repair professionals in the future. The feeling was, however, that repair enterprise needs to be incentivised.

2. Support Repair Businesses and Spaces

To support repair shops, business and community repair spaces, ideas ranged from reducing tax obligations to keeping the cost to the user down, in order to incentivise the repair of an object or product over buying something new. Across our findings, people expressed an interest in having more repair spaces in towns and villages, where people can get together and discuss repair together, along with specialist repairers.

The local hardware shop has always been, and to a certain extent still is, a hub for advice and chat about repair and fixing. Borrowing models from other countries, such as the successful Repair Café model, would allow people to develop repair knowledge and skills and offer cost effective solutions to repairing. Such hubs could also act as focal points for the community, harnessing collective learning and skill sharing.

3. Improve Access to Spare Parts

In the workshops, people spoke about how many manufacturers deliberately shorten the lifespans of some products – planned obsolescence. While the new EU Eco-Design directive (2022) aims to address such obsolescence, people want to specifically see increased durability; spare part replacement and access; modular designs; plus more immediate access and options available. This reflects a much wider global call for the Right to Repair, working to improve consumers right to repair the items they purchase.

4. Build a Repair Directory

While there is the beginnings of a national repair directory available in Ireland (repairmystuff.ie) and many people search online for repair businesses, a local and comprehensive and searchable index of repair professionals in Westmeath would support both businesses and members of the public in choosing repair instead of discard. A repair directory would enable people to understand how and where to get trusted repairs carried out.

All these ideas form part of the picture that is emerging for what people in Westmeath would put into a ‘Repair Declaration’. If you would like to add your viewpoint, you can still contribute by posting an image of a repaired object and adding your statements at: repairacts.ie/stories/add-your-repair-story/.

On Friday November 4, as part of our ‘Caring for Repairing’ Exhibition and Féile in Kilbeggan, we will launch the first version of the ‘Repair Declaration’ which condenses all statements collated to date. Our intention with the programme is that the ‘Repair Declaration’ will work as a set of actions that can stimulate and help us account for better repairability conditions in the county. As part of the launch, we are inviting a number of guest speakers to debate their views on the declaration.

This debate will be open to the public at St James’s Hall, Kilbeggan on Friday November 4 from 4pm. We encourage all those interested in attending to come along and also to check out the exhibition, which will open at the hall and Kilbeggan Community Hub that day at 6pm.

The Caring for Repairing Exhibition and Féile, including the debate and opening night and weekend (November 5-6) performance, concerts and events are all free. Over that period, we will be running a number of free mending and fixing workshops, as well as showcasing new art works and the première of our documentary ‘Turning the Collar’, which reflects on contemporary professional repair practices in Westmeath.

Full details programme details for the ‘Caring for Repairing’ Exhibition and Féile are at: repairacts.ie/exhibition/.