Mr. Stephen Treacy:

The national inventory report, which is the full detailed report of how we produce and compile the greenhouse gas inventory, runs to more than 500 pages. It is subject to review by the UN and EU on an annual basis. At intervals of a number of years we have country reviews whereby expert review teams from around the world come to look at our methods and assess them. We have always been found to be compliant with the process and with the IPCC guidelines for producing inventories. We also have reviews on an annual basis for the projections and air pollutant inventory and projections under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe process and the national emission ceilings directive. The data and methods we use are reviewed annually by international experts to assess compliance with international best practice.

On the question of land use, we report emissions and sequestration on an annual basis to the UN. To date, we have not published this information in our summary projections report because it has not been relevant to effort sharing. We will do so in future, however, because it will be relevant to credits. The land use, land-use change and forestry, LULUCF, regulation covers the six top-level land categories. These are forest land, cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements and harvestable wood products. Overall, land use is estimated to be a net source of emissions in Ireland. This is based on application of the international methodology. Just less than 4.3 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent was emitted in the past inventory year. While we have a substantial sink from forestry, we also have a large area of grasslands on organic soils. Overall, our grasslands cover approximately 4.3 million ha, of which 350,000 ha are on organic soils. This is a form of peatland that has been drained. While we have a sink of approximately 2 million tonnes from the 3.8 million ha of grass on mineral soils there is a source of approximately 8 million tonnes annually from the 350,000 ha of grassland on organic soils. This has a huge impact. There is also the fact that our wetlands or peatlands are a net source in that the horticultural extraction is greater than what might be taken up on managed peat areas. We report this information but I acknowledge that there is room for improvement in the context of the information provided.

The Chair mentioned hedgerows. This matter has been very much in the media recently. The EPA has funded two projects on hedgerows and more are under way to identify the biomass in hedgerows and the extent to which it might soak up carbon. The land where hedgerows are located is captured under grassland and cropland areas. The whole land area is covered. What we have to identify are the management regimes and the various types of hedgerows and various amounts of carbon they can soak up. The second part of the research is ongoing. This is on the various amounts of carbon taken up by various management types. In overall terms, hedgerows are likely to sequester. There is quite a broad element of uncertainty at present. It is somewhere between 300,000 tonnes and 1.4 million tonnes per annum of carbon. This is quite an uncertain range. These research projects will narrow down the gap.

The question was probably also aimed at credits under the LULUCF regulation. In this sense what is important is the impact of actions taken by people. What matters is how much hedgerow is there now compared to what was there in the reference period. The research we have to date suggests there is less hedgerow than there was in the reference period. This would lead to a net emission in the regulation accounting. This is something to be aware of. With regard to the actions and credits available under the LULUCF regulation, it is action relative to reference periods that is important.