Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is valuable that we have reduced the number of areas where we might be subject to fines from 19 to ten. Could the Minister outline what progress has been made in respect of the ten areas to which he referred, whether we will still be subject to fines and what these fines are? There is work to be done in respect of the use of forestry and bog land as carbon sinks. Will that be done in advance of Paris in 2015? Clearly, that will have an impact on what our obligations will be. We underperformed in terms of some of that capacity being counted. How will that happen practically?

In respect of our sectoral plans, the Minister stated that this is where the national ambition will stated. Presumably, each of the Departments such as the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Transport, Tourism and Sport are working on those. Is that what we will bring to the table in terms of how we are going to do things or will we be addressing anything in respect of targets?

Obviously, the typhoon in the Philippines focused minds. There is nothing like a good hanging to get people's attention. The Minister said in one of the documents that the pace picked up. What is meant by that in a practical sense? I welcome the fact that the Minister has acknowledged some of the efforts relating to the work we did on the pre-legislative stage regarding the heads of the Bill. I thought it was a very useful exercise. We are certainly more informed. The Minister is acknowledging that some aspects are likely to find their way into the Bill. It is really important that this happens if this way of dealing with legislation is going to be a feature in the future because there was quite an investment in terms of the time made by the committee and the research undertaken by those who came to talk to us.

We were talking about how the reduction in emissions might be achieved in the aviation sector. Is there a rounded discussion of that? Emissions will be one side of it but as an island, we are very exposed in respect of the means of transport. If one is on the European mainland, it is noticeable how heavily used the railway system is. That option is not available to us. If there will be a reduction in carriers, we need to look at more than emissions. Is there a rounded discussion on it that takes place in the context of reducing emissions by carriers by reducing the number of carriers and the difficulties that might present in respect of the availability of cost-efficient means of travel?