Mr. Kevin Brady:

I apologise. It has increased from 6% to 8% as of 1 January this year. This biofuel obligation rate is a volumetric requirement, not an energy requirement.

Biodiesel has slightly less energy per litre than normal diesel and bioethanol would have two thirds the energy per litre although it varies. In terms of the current directive and double counting, there is an incentive to move away from first generation biofuels. In our current targets for 2020, each litre of bioethanol that a fuel supplier puts on the market, which in this country is generally in petrol, they get one credit. If they put in something that is in a list in the annexe, which in Ireland is generally used cooking oil and tallow, a waste product from the agricultural animal sector, they will get two credits because these are not grown for that specific purpose. They are waste. Advanced biofuels, which we do not generally use in this country, are substances such as algae, the biomass fraction of municipal waste, of industrial waste, straw, animal manure, sewage, sludge and palm oil, crude glycerine etc. There are many more advanced biofuels. Those are three levels.

The biodiesel content of the diesel in this country is generally tallow or used cooking oil. Overall, when the double counting for the biodiesel is included, there is just over 5% renewable energy in transport. When that is counted on a pure energy basis, there is just over 3%. There are some supplies on the biodiesel side being supplied into the fuels in Ireland but there is very little, if any, ethanol coming from Irish producers and Irish farms. There is an indirect impact such that prices may be higher if there is demand in eastern Europe, where I understand the factory is located. That demand can increase grain prices across Europe. The real question to ask in respect of these directives is not what is the role of bioenergy today, but what is its future role. Up to the 7% cap there is quite a large area for us to grow by expanding biofuel, bioethanol in petrol, etc. As it reduces to 3.8%, we would need to move towards those second and advanced biofuel levels. That is where the proposal is coming from. Sugar beet was mentioned and if it came back in, it could be used for biofuel.

This is the demand side measure. The Commission is creating the demand for these fuels by setting these national obligations which in Ireland we transfer through to the biofuel obligation rate. How do we get Irish farmers to produce it for the supply side? It is disappointing that many biofuels are being used in this country but our production of them is quite limited.

The draft bioenergy plan as published, and which is being re-examined, considers the issue in terms of supply and demand. This reduction is being considered because of the indirect land use change that is happening. People are questioning the evidence. There is a lot of evidence from the European Commission also and there are differing views on it. As with all these matters, it is a question of balance. The 7% reduction in the indirect land use change, ILUC, directive is now law for 2020 and the question is whether that should be reduced further. It would appear that the consensus of member states is moving towards answering "No" and that it should remain at 7%.

The answer to Deputy Penrose's question about the by-products, high protein, is absolutely "Yes". That is where Ireland does import as part of feed and food crops. That was a key part of our interventions in energy working groups. As for the impact on beef farmers or farmers in general, we are at 1% and all of Europe, in terms of biofuels and even with double counting, is only at 5%. The 7% has not created a barrier yet. It is really a question of the future and whether the cap should remain or be reduced. On biofuels versus fossil fuels, biofuels have been proven to reduce emissions. The reduction in transport sectors from biofuels is between 3.3% and 3.5% of our energy between 2015 and 2016. It is the heavy lifter. Electric vehicles are doing a bit. Even electrification of the Luas and DART does a small amount, but biofuels are the key heavy lifter in terms of decarbonising transport up to 2020.

The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment has signalled to another committee that it is his intention to carry out a consultation later this year on further increases on the biofuels obligation rate. Given that there was a change on 1 January of this year, it has been clearly signalled that there will be no change on 1 January 2018. That consultation would examine a change possibly on 1 January 2019 and 2020. We need to be very aware that as we move to higher levels of biofuels, some of the vehicle fleet is not able to take those higher levels. I would suggest that most of the petrol in Ireland is E5. It has 5% ethanol. Diesel varies but is approximately the same mix, 4% or 5%. With the change that came in on 1 January this year, diesel will probably move up its biofuel rate towards what is called a standard grade of B7. There are vehicles on our roads now, not many, that are not warranted to use E10. As gasoline or petrol to move beyond E5 to E10, we need to be careful. We could be back to the change from leaded to unleaded where some people will use an E5 and an E10 handle and some cars can take both but others cannot. We hope we do not reach that level for a while yet but part of the consultation would be to tease out these questions and what impact they might have on infrastructure.

The rationale for renewable energy directive round two comes from the conclusions of the European Council in October 2014 which set out the EU's targets for 2030. There are eight European directives on energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, market and market regulation which are being reviewed as part of this process. It is an entire update and review of the energy portfolio. That is why the renewable energy directive is up for examination now. I apologise if I have missed any questions but I have covered as many as possible.