Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Environmental Protection Agency: Financial Statements 2017

9:00 am

Ms Laura Burke:

They are punitive. The whole idea of the emissions trading scheme is that trading is allowed and if a company has not engaged in trading and has not been compliant, the fine is very high. It works at a cost assumption for carbon at around €100 per tonne, which is not discretionary. The EPA does not have discretion on that. If a facility is not compliant, the amount is set at European Union level.