Mr. Kevin Brady:

I would not disagree with that at all. I want to make sure that people understand that when we hear about the non-ETS target, against which we are measured very strictly, that issues around Moneypoint or peat are not necessarily part of that conversation. Undoubtedly, it has a part to play in terms of the overall national policy position on 2050 and decarbonising the whole energy system. In Europe, if one is out of line in one area but in line in others, it can only help.

On Deputy Bríd Smith's points on environmental impact, there is considerable concern about biomass and biofuels and the impact on land use. An amendment to the renewable energy directive was brought in called the integrated land use change directive. It put a cap on the amount of energy from biofuels that countries can count towards their renewable energy target. That cap is 7%. A key part is that we cannot just say that we will decarbonise transport by putting in more and more biofuels. We can do it but we are only allowed to count up to 7% when those biofuels come from food or feed-based crops. There are strict sustainability criteria in the renewable energy directive and they are getting stricter. It is a topic which is live and is being addressed by European legislation.

The point was made about removing waste from dumps. We are entering a phase where we are viewing waste as a resource. We are seeing the Dublin waste-to-energy facility is generating energy from waste and hopefully, in time, heat via district heating. I do not have any information on what is being done locally. Anything would have to pass the standard environmental tests and planning regulations.

I want to be clear about some of the figures I gave for trains and freight. More than 50% of our emissions in the non-ETS sector are from transport, within which about one quarter are from freight and half are from cars. There is potential for converting freight to trains, but it generally works where one is transporting goods over a very long distance or when one is transporting goods from a particular point to a port. We use freight for wood, principally down to the south east, and have trains running from one of the mines. Our current freight fleet is very dispersed. While converting it to rail has merit, it does not have significant potential.