Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Walsh for his statement. I will go to colleagues who indicate they will ask questions. We will call on them in order.

I will kick off with a question for Ms Stewart or her colleagues, whoever wishes to take it. The committee has done quite a lot of work. Today, we will publish our report on the circular economy. Deputy Bruton has led the committee on coming up with recommendations for the Government, such that we challenge the situation we currently have whereby we generate a great deal of waste through procurement, especially in the public sector. The SEAI will speak more to scope 1 emissions and the challenge within the 13,000 buildings that Mr. Walsh referenced. However, I am thinking of purchasing done by various entities, including the HSE. We invited the HSE in because we saw it as one of the big buyers in the country of all kinds of materials that have a carbon cost associated with them.

Ultimately, we did not bring in the HSE because it was not available, but many organisations that are public sector by definition have a significant carbon cost associated with their buying practices and protocols. When it comes to the challenge we face, many of the emissions that might be generated by materials purchased by public bodies are generated in other countries. Does the OGP have a way of trying to account for emissions generated outside our borders? If we look at it through the narrow lens of our own carbon law, which is to reduce emissions by 51% by 2030 based on our 2018 level, we might be just outsourcing emissions to other countries.