Mr. Ruaidhrí O'Boyle:

In that case, I can say we have come out repeatedly to say that the marginal abatement options that Teagasc has suggested will not contribute the type of emissions reductions that we need. They are marginal and dependent on a number of factors, including not increasing the gross emissions before these options are taken into account. Our emissions from agriculture went up last year. They went down the previous year but that was on the basis of a high figure in 2018, on the back of the drought that year.

The calculations of the emissions is done by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and work is done by Teagasc and they are funded for that. The advocacy side of An Taisce is not funded by the Government to do any of that work. Consequently, while it might be a disappointing answer, given that bodies are already being funded to do that sort of work, we do not want to fund somebody to duplicate that work.