Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The motion calls on Dáil Éireann to approve the terms of the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, which was done at Doha on 8 December 2012. A copy of that was laid before Dáil Éireann on 23 October 2014. I doubt we would be here if there was not an obligation under the Constitution. The Minister said as much in his statement.

It is frustratingly annoying to have spent weeks here compiling a report and conducting hearings with people here because we are required to comply. In actual fact we are not doing what is important - the production of legislation and sectoral plans. We decided not to have targets in the legislation but we were going to state our ambition in the sectoral plans.

The important thing, and what will show real leadership, is how we get there. Essentially, we saw the recent negotiating strategy at European level which had a huge focus of attention on the agricultural sector. We all know how important agriculture is to this country. However, if one sector more or less gets a free get out of jail card then one must redouble efforts for other sectors. Can the Minister tell us what is happening with sectoral plans? Can he explain why we have not seen them so far? Let me give the example of public transport. A very significant amount of investment will be required in order to get people to shift from using a private car to using public transport and also goods will have to be moved in a different way.

Can the Minister tell us about the retrofitting of homes? The scheme has stalled even though there was a decent uptake at the beginning. We are putting an impossible weight on our shoulders in trying to comply with targets for 2030, given that we are playing catch-up at this stage. We need to see how this will play out. What relationship does the Minister have with other Departments in making sure sectoral plans come forward and targets are complied with? How can he ensure significant investment is made in order to deliver on what is stated in the plans?

The reason we are not in a worse compliance situation is due to the recession which resulted in a huge reduction in the amount of motorised transport. The construction sector due to using concrete and so on was also a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions during the boom but the recession has changed all that. Therefore, we may be understating the current position at the moment. I hope there is an upturn in the economy and we are starting to see some signs of same. An upturn will mean we have more catching up to do because we have lagged behind. When will the legislation be produced? When does the Minister hope to have the legislation enacted? Will the sectoral plans be produced at the same time? What is the relationship between forestry in bogs and carbon sinks? Has there been a change in approach to that area by the European Union? Clearly, it will also be important for us to offset some of the agricultural emissions. Birdwatch Ireland made an extremely good contribution on the role bogs play in terms of carbon sinks which completely surprised us. The Minister needs to see how such an initiative would factor into negotiations that happen at European level. Those are my initial comments.