Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I talked a lot about carbon capture and storage at the start. I do not know if the Deputy was here for that. The cement industry is difficult to reduce emissions from. We are effectively trying to do three things. One is to shift the industry towards a lower carbon form of cement and to try to incentivise that through public procurement, with State construction contracts and so on. Second, we want and need to look at other practices that can reduce the carbon intensity of this industry at various different stages, whether the manufacturing of cement or its application. We should be looking at alternatives to concrete and cement for construction. We talked earlier about laminated timber, for example, its increased use on site, and other materials that are less carbon intensive than concrete and cement.

Third, recognising that we will have a cement industry for some time, since it is part of the Irish economy, we look at whether we can capture and store the emissions coming from the sector in a way that does not solve all problems, by any means, but which certainly prevents the release of damaging emissions into the environment. It is not a silver bullet but it is part of a mix for how we address this. We said earlier that 41% of emissions in the industrial sector come from the cement sector. It is a huge issue. I think it is 5.3% of our overall emissions. It is a sector that cannot and should not be ignored. At the moment, along with the Minister, Deputy Ryan's Department, we have a working group looking at the viability of carbon capture and storage with regard to cost and timelines for implementation. We will be able to give firmer timelines and costs for it early next year, hopefully.