Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for their attendance. I agree with Deputy Dooley that in terms of witnesses we are a little overloaded today but it is good to have everybody involved in this area here at the same time. I agree also that there is a need for greater ambition and leadership. Currently, there is a lot of passing the parcel and little focus on the issue.

Some 37% of our CO2 emissions come from the transport sector and we have a lot of catching up to do. We have had an industrial revolution and a few other revolutions in this country but if we are to achieve our targets in this area, we need a revolution in the energy and transport areas. In 2008, the then Government target was to have 10% of all vehicles in the transport fleet powered by electricity by 2020. If I am correct, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was the Minister at that point. It is good to set targets. However, as outlined earlier, the Department's targets have changed and the target now is to have 20,000 vehicles powered by electricity by 2020. I do not think that target will be achieved. At the current rate of progress, it would take us 3,800 years to replace the fleet with electric vehicles. We need to get into revolution gear in this area. What other measures are being considered by the Department to accelerate this process? As stated, to date only 1,942 vehicles have been purchased under the electric grants scheme. What is the total number of charging points available? This is a great scheme and I compliment all those involved in it.

In regard to the ESB, everything has to be paid for by someone. I can see the need for the roll-out of free schemes but, at the end of the day, the ESB is a commercial company. How does it see this scheme panning out into the future? Will the charging network be self-funded or will it be funded from another source? As for the generation of electricity from fossil fuel sources, if I choose to charge my car at a charging point in Portlaoise or even at home, will that electricity be generated to an increasing extent from dirty fossil fuels such as coal, oil and so on?

Perhaps the departmental officials will outline the implications for land use. We have a growing world population, although that is being beaten by Japan, which has turned things around the other way. There is huge pressure on land use in terms of population growth and increased demand for food in the developing world. What are the implications in this regard in terms of land use? In the context of Harvest 2020 and the many other targets being used to encourage farmers to increase production, what are the implications for land use? There is not that much wasted land across the country. Farmers are ploughing up to ditches these days and there is little head land remaining.