Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I just have a couple of quick questions for each witness. There is a school of thought that a near 0.3% per annum reduction in methane emissions would stabilise its presence in the atmosphere and slowly reduce the level of methane in the atmosphere. Professor McMullin and Mr. Price stated that these calculations, which have been checked, are misleading. What does Professor McMullin say to the argument by Mr. Hourigan earlier that the production of methane in agriculture requires the removal of carbon from the atmosphere, while methane emitted during the mining process involves no such removals, yet in the calculations relating to methane emissions from agriculture take no account of direct removals or of what occurs during the production of that methane? Is this screwing the figures relating to and demands that are being made in respect of the agricultural sector?