Mr. P.J. McCarthy:

The first principle here is to decarbonise our economy. There are clear benefits from using biofertiliser digestate as against artificial fertiliser. A European study has shown that every 1 tonne of artificial fertiliser replaced with digestate or organic fertiliser saves 1 tonne of oil, 108 tonnes of water and most importantly, 7 tonnes of CO² emissions. Not alone is the biofertiliser beneficial to air and water quality, soil health and biodiversity, it also reduces CO² emissions. For every 1 tonne of biofertiliser coming out Biocore's plant or any other AD plant, we are saving 7 tonnes of CO². If our ceilings and our sectoral targets need to be our first focus, this is one of the additional benefits we need to be aware of.