Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 18 April 2019

Public Accounts Committee

Environmental Protection Agency: Financial Statements 2017

9:00 am

Ms Laura Burke:

Yes.

I can provide both of those. One fine was €210,000 and the other was €51,000. That is on the emissions trading side of things. It is a stringent regime.

On the broader issue of inventories and projections, which cover the science and the evidence that can be stood over and investigated, the UN and the EU have looked at how we calculate those inventories and projections. What we have highlighted is perhaps not dissimilar to the urban wastewater issue. We have highlighted this issue over a long number of years, including during the recession. During the recession, when emissions were going down, we highlighted that emission-induced reductions were not sustainable and that as soon as the economy took off again, emissions would go up. We have definitely seen that happen, particularly in areas such as transport and agriculture.

With regard to our role, we provide scientific and technical advice to the Government and other bodies. We have seen that emissions are only projected to decrease by 6% by 2020 under what we call the "with additional measures" scenario, meaning all existing policies and additional policies and measures included in the national development plan for 2018 to 2027.