Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is an issue we will come back to consider in the context of the conclusions and recommendations of our report. The issues on which we need to try to crystallise our thoughts are being well ventilated. We may not have the answer but we may have some useful suggestions. We will move on. This will be in our next periodic report on the national paediatric hospital.

No. 2228B is correspondence from Mr. Mark Griffin, Secretary General, Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, dated 10 June 2019, providing information requested on behalf of the committee. I want to highlight several items in this letter about which some members will be concerned and disappointed regarding the factual position as to how the country operates when it comes to certain issues. We asked for an information note for the cost that will be incurred by the State for not meeting the 2020 climate action targets and when such costs will be due. When one reads the letter, one can see that the State response, our collective response at Oireachtas and Government level, is entirely hypocritical. The letter indicates that the arrangement at European level requires member states to meet their targets using unused emissions credit from earlier years or through purchasing credits from other member states via international markets. In simple English, if we do not meet our targets, we can buy our way out of the problem by purchasing unused emissions from somewhere else. This is the biggest act of gross hypocrisy when it comes to the environment. We are stating that if we do not meet our targets, we will buy unused emission credits from somebody else before the deadline and pay the price. This means that when the 2020 deadline arrives, we will be below our target because we will have unused credits in the system.

The NTMA is the body that purchases these on behalf of the State. An important point is that to date the NTMA has already spent €86.8 million of Irish taxpayers' money purchasing these credits, which is horrific. This is to avoid a fine. I know some of them may have been released in the meantime. We asked about the 2020 climate action targets. The letter goes on to state the Department estimates the additional cost of the requirement to be in the region of between €6 million and €13 million between now and then if we do not meet the additional cost.

We also asked about renewable energy targets. People will find this equally upsetting. The letter states Ireland has a target of 16% of renewable energy by 2020 and that we have increased it by a lot since 2005 when we were just at 3%. The letter states the Department expects Ireland to achieve something in the order of 13% by 2020. The letter also states that some years ago the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland estimated we could buy our way out of the problem at a cost of anywhere between €65 million and €130 million, depending on the price range of the trade. This was carried out before any market activity emerged in the public domain. In 2017, trades between Luxembourg, Lithuania and Estonia suggested a cost in the order of €22.5 million per percentage point below our 16% target. If we are 3% below our target based on those prices it could cost us another €60 million to buy our way out of pretending we are meeting environmental targets.

I want to put this on the public record. I want everyone who has an interest in the environment to know that what we are doing in this country is a charade . We buy unused credits, targets and emissions from other countries just to balance our books and pretend we are coming in under target. We are doing nothing of the sort. We should not have to spend taxpayers' money to buy our way out of these problems. We should do the right thing in the first place. I want to put this on the record and I hope people with an interest in the environment will take up the issue.

There is more in the correspondence from the Department with regard to broadband and we will discuss it in private session. When the Department with responsibility for communications came before the committee we asked for details on bidder membership of the Granahan McCourt bid. We wanted details on it because it has changed. In the correspondence, the Department tells us that in March 2016 there were five bidders and that was the position at the time. There was a process for making changes to a bidder. Approval was granted in September 2017 following assessment of a further change in the make-up of the bidder. This resulted in changes. A further change to the bidder membership was approved in September 2018 and following approval the bidder membership is now set out as Granahan McCourt Dublin Ireland Limited, with reliance on the resources of McCourt Global LLC and Tetrad Corporation, as lead bidder and provider of equity; Enet as key subcontractor and not an equity holder; Kelly Group, with reliance on resources of Kelly Communications Group Limited and Kelly Integrated Limited, as a key subcontractor with nothing to do with the ownership; and Actavo Ireland Limited and KN Networks as key subcontractors. The fact they are subcontractors is not the issue. We are talking about ownership of the group, which has changed at least three times.

The final tender submitted by Granahan McCourt reflects the bidder membership as approved in September 2018. We would like to know the current status of all of the companies involved and that have been in and out of the process since 2016. They may have fallen out but are they still trading? Did they ever trade? What is their status and the link between them and the new companies? The committee will not get to the bottom of it now because it is a bigger issue than what we will be able to conclude looking backwards. They are all events that happened during years when accounts were audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is an issue we will highlight. It is a matter of great concern. I acknowledge Mr. Mark Griffin for being upfront and forthright with information when we ask a question. I must accept that. We will note and publish it.