Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have confidence that we will reach it, if not necessarily this year. We need to do everything we can to get there. It is very important for our climate change targets, for farmers’ income diversification and for providing raw materials to displace other more carbon intensive materials, for example, in the building industry. We will get there and we have to drive on as hard as we possibly can. It is unlikely we will make that jump this year. I am profiling the funding that will be available to do it but we would all agree it is unlikely we will get to that target over the course of this year. I will monitor it closely. We are making progress in regard to licensing and we are in a much different place from where we were this time last year. There is still a lot of work to do but we are gathering momentum all of the time. As it moves towards the end of the year, in assessing where we are at, I will then look at the spending profile. Certainly, at the start of the year, there is a clear indication of our intent and willingness to fund this, and I am profiling the funding that will be required to meet our target.