Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank Deputy Bruton. This morning, the EPA said, as it said last year, that we are starting to deliver on retrofitting. We are starting to see targets met in our homes. One reason for that is that we have continued the carbon taxation system that was put in place in Deputy Bruton's time in government and it is working. It delivers social progressivity. It helps to protect against fuel poverty, with 30% of the emissions going to social welfare increases. It funds the growth in retrofitting which means that we are starting to get there in our homes. I absolutely agree with the Deputy about other parties. They say every time that they are against carbon tax but are in favour of retrofitting. The money comes from the carbon tax to pay for retrofitting, particularly in poorer homes with low incomes. That is an example of where one has to make some hard calls, because it helps to deliver.

On the three targets that were set in the NECP, the Deputy is correct to focus on efficiency. It is the most challenging. On the other two, we have a 43% renewables target by 2030, which is challenging, but the modelling that we are doing within the NECP, similar to the modelling that the EPA and others are doing, shows that we can get to 42.7% or some such figure. With significant effort, focus and attention, we can deliver it, and it is in our economic interests. It is a better strategy for the country to use our own power rather than importing it. We can deliver that. We have a target of 42% for emissions reduction and effort sharing in the non-emissions trading sector. The emissions trading sector is 62%, which is for the big power sector and big industry. The 42% one will be challenging. It has a different base to the climate action plan, since it is 2005, not 2018, so you have to be careful about comparing apples and oranges. The hardest one is energy efficiency. I was involved in the negotiations on this in the European Council and made the point that the proposed 12% reduction in final energy consumption, down to 10.4 or 10.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent, is really challenging for a country like Ireland, because our population will grow by 5% in the next six years and our economy continues to grow. We have to be careful not to restrict our ability to use some of that renewable power if we are to reduce the final energy consumption.

There are subsets within that which are challenging but I think they are very good. We have a commitment of a 1.9% per annum reduction in the public sector, in our emissions, in all our buildings and operations, which we have to live up to. Efficiency is really the most challenging area.

On the carbon border adjustments issue, I did not really understand the question. The carbon border adjustment mechanism is going to be very complicated for us because of the UK, the Single Market and how that interconnects post Brexit. I did not quite understand the question when it comes to the car element.