Mr. P.J. McCarthy:

We have done some studies around that with Project Clover and broken the integrated business case into three particular work streams. One deals with anaerobic digestion and biomethane and the others are biofertiliser and carbon farming. We have a conservative estimate of carbon savings at 700,000 tonnes per annum by 2030. That was done by KPMG and commissioned by Renewable Gas Forum Ireland on behalf of industry.

To answer the question specifically, the size and scale of the anaerobic digestion plant is important. Scalability is important. We are looking at the 20 GWh anaerobic digestion plant, some of the size and scale across Europe matches that. The focus is on delivering this competitively. The emissions allocation would be approximately a third to agriculture and two thirds to energy.

As matters stand, that is a conservative figure. Much more could be achieved and needs to be pursued. We can expand that. We are looking at anaerobic digestion, AD, biomethane in a biorefinery. We can have protein extraction at the front end and biogenic carbon dioxide, which is currently not in our figures. There are other methods and bioproducts, such as bioactives, biostimulants and carbon farming, which we feel is a real opportunity that Ireland needs to pursue, where the farmer will be central, will be rewarded and we can measure it.