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

I do not believe that we need any duplication of targets. I am aware of a mantra going about that we should sign up to a 2050 target before anyone else, that we should demonstrate that level of ambition. We are a competitive, open economy and we will work in conjunction with our European Union partners. The European Union states are the leaders in trying to do something about this issue in the world in terms of ambition, and Ireland is among the progressive states that are forging alliances with people from outside the EU to drive that particular agenda of meeting all of the various policy changes at local level to meet the 2015 UN convention outcome, which we all hope we will able to complete by that time, in Paris. That is ambitious enough but from Ireland's point of view, we will be participating fully, and we have done so in the past six to 12 months, as part of the EU Council deliberations in driving that agenda in Doha and in Poland at the end of this year when it is hoped we will make further progress in meeting the EU legally binding targets to which we signed up. Otherwise, we will be in the European Court of Justice.

When I became Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government I inherited 31 files where Ireland had been brought to the European Court of Justice and where we were running the risk, as we were on the wastewater treatment systems and the groundwater quality, of fines on a daily basis. I tackled that issue. I am very conscious that we could be facing fines again if we do not hit our 2020 targets. We will do everything we can in that regard, but I have a different approach. I have an approach where all of the stakeholders are involved, by agreement, rather than imposing a solution which somebody would like me to do. For that reason we have the roadmap process and with the help of the NESC secretariat and the Departments of energy, agriculture, transport and buildings, we will be able to get agreement from those Ministers on the milestones we need to reach and the progress we must make in all those areas because this is a whole-of-government approach. This is not my approach or the Deputy's approach. This is what is required in each of the Departments to help us achieve our 2020 targets, which are onerous but on which I am prepared to seek the support of the Government, with the chairmanship of the Taoiseach and the Cabinet committee process, to deliver. We will have objectives in those sectoral roadmaps for each of the Departments that are causing the major difficulties for us in meeting those EU legally binding targets by 2020.

I agree with Deputy Coffey that we need to have a whole-of-government approach. Pragmatic suggestions must be taken on board by all communities, local and national authorities and agencies as well as business to ensure we do things differently from the way we did them in the past. We no longer have an option in the way we do our business, in agriculture or as a society, of taking an àla carte approach to this issue. We must do this on the basis of achieving the objectives we set out in a practical way. Any encouragement I can give, I will do so.

Deputy Stanley mentioned carbon sinks. We have an issue with the area of land use, land-use change and forestry, LULUCF, in the European Union. We took our eye off the ball in regard to the way forestry, peat and grassland is calculated for the purposes of Ireland's effort sharing in relation to our EU obligations. We took our eye off the ball in 2008 and 2009 when that was being negotiated but we have peatlands in the context of being used as a carbon store and sink, including any institutional arrangements, for moving on this issue. That has been the subject of a bogland study where the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in co-operation with the Peatlands Council, is preparing a draft peatlands strategy. I hope that will be completed by the end of the year. Obviously, it will have some impact, depending on the negotiations, in terms of the way, under the LULUCF, peat, forestry and grassland generally will be calculated in the post-2020 emissions proposals that will come forward from the European Commission by the end of the year.