David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is not broken down by year. The target just has to be achieved by 2030. That is the problem with such targets. When one says one must do something by 2030 it is very hard to hold anybody to account. Every year it can be said the target is a ten-year one. For accountability purposes, it would be much better if there were yearly targets on which we could then hold the Department to account. We can only work on the figures we have here, which are for 2018. If Mr. Gleeson has the figures for 2019 to date, he can feel free to give them to us. It seems to me that the policy in recent years was to encourage an increase in the national herd and now we are going in the opposite direction and trying to decrease the national herd, because we must, but I do not see any urgency. Neither do I see a policy underpinning the target. Mr. Gleeson says he wants to reduce the emissions by between 15% and 20% by 2030 but I do not see a policy indicating there is a real drive to ensure that happens.