Mr. Bill Callanan:

We have identified that our climate commitment and the achievement of reducing emissions while also maximising sequestration, with our contribution to the whole-of-Government plan being 26.8 megatonnes, requires afforestation to deliver 20 megatonnes. The remainder will come from better management of peatlands. We estimate that approximately 40,000 ha are required out of the 300,000 to 400,000 ha of managed peatlands in the country. We have commenced a project that would be ideal in the next CAP. A €3 million fund was committed in the recent budget to support climate projects. We will implement a programme to prepare for a project under the European innovation programme, in which we have quite a number of different projects supported in a results-driven process. I cannot give the quantum but it will be a significant area of peatlands in which we will implement those measures, which we would see as contributing to carbon sequestration, learning from that, understanding how to measure them and where they are located, etc., and building our knowledge for greater ambition in the next CAP.