Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will skip over the expert advisory body issue as it is obvious that there is a best practice model and we should be considering that in more detail. I have done some work outside the Oireachtas in that regard.

Science is changing quickly and already there is an outline for 2050. It has already been mentioned that the 2020 target will be very difficult for us to hit, although we have already signed up for it. There will be negotiations in 2015 for the 2030 target. Our 2020 target is made on a baseline of 2005 and if one considers the likely outcome of the negotiations in 2015, there will probably be approximately a 50% reduction between 2020 and 2030, and that is an onerous target.

I am not very fond of emissions trading so will the witnesses expand their comments in that regard? I take it they referred to internal rather than external emissions trading. We can see how the size of the process has changed since the start, and bio-fuels were mentioned as an example. Some of the bio-fuels recommended earlier were shown to be damaging to the environment. Forestry has been mentioned as a carbon sink but many of those have not been negotiated. On a related point, not all afforestation is good. These are broad brush strokes. BirdWatch Ireland made an interesting submission with regard to bogs, which are heat sinks, and perhaps these could be expanded.

We have general heads for the Bill but we must take into account spatial planning. We can see friction between agriculture, afforestation, wind turbine generation and so many other different pressure points. Will the witnesses comment on that?