Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations this morning. I want to ask the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications about the recent EPA report, which stated our emissions rose by 6%. In that context, we know each sector must reach the upper range to be compatible with the overall 51% reduction. Every shortfall in the first five-year budget makes the second one practically insurmountable. Will the witnesses comment on what chance there is of every sector hitting that target range on the current projections?

I have a question for the Department of Transport. It is clear from the witnesses' statement that the only real game on town, and from the pushing, so to speak, we have had from the Bill, is the electrification of the private car fleet. It seems to me that all the work and emphasis in the scale of our ambitions should be on public transport, on increasing railway and trams etc., and on focusing on rural Ireland. Certainly, the plans by the NTA for the bus fleet are not at the races. It is really all down to electric vehicles. I would like to draw a link between the solutions in both agriculture and transport that seem to be hooked onto new technology as a solution. With EV cars there is a problem. If we plan to hinge our targets on a million EV cars, we are depending on mass manufacturing and distribution of these fleets, something in itself, regardless of them being electric, would have a massive cost to the carbon emissions to build and to manufacture them. The purpose of this technology is to keep things as they are and to keep the reliance on the private car in transport. Will the witnesses comment on the ambition for public transport in the areas of rail, bus and rural transport we need to achieve?