Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to tell the Deputy that the year is not yet over and that there will be a Government meeting next Tuesday at which one of the issues debated will be the heads of the climate change Bill. I am sure the Deputy has noticed that I have stuck rigidly to what I set out in the road map last January and delivered on everything I said I would do. I do not expect things to be any different next week. I am also taking a policy document to the Government on the national climate change adaptation strategy. That will also feature on the Government's agenda and we will see how that discussion proceeds. It is another aspect of the climate change agenda and I am sure people will be anxious to see what proposals emerge in terms of adopting a whole of government approach towards a framework for adaptation to climate change to help deal with the problems faced.

The concept of indirect land use change, ILUC, is aimed at starting the transition to biofuel use to deliver substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions. A reporting mechanism for emissions in respect of indirect land use is built into it. It is a technical proposal. Essentially, we are trying to move towards a second generation or advanced low ILUC biofuels strategy to allow these fuels to contribute more towards the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This can be done in various ways such as through new installations, but we hope that whatever agreement is made, it can be brought into effect by 1 July 2014. We might not get it all over the line by the end of our Presidency, but we expect to have a progress report on this file that I hope will meet the general thrust of the ILUC proposal.

I am glad that the Deputy has very good and strong views on groundwater, but this was not always evident when we were talking about the Water Services (Amendment) Act 2012.