Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

We are an embarrassment in Europe. The level of the increase in climate change emissions here is much higher than those of any of our European neighbours in the context of the targets set. The Minister is lucky that in the past two years, the closure of the Irish Fertiliser Industry plants have led to a temporary and small drop in emissions. The national climate change strategy set strong targets. It called for the issue of the tax treatment of leases to be examined by 2003 and the conversion of the Moneypoint station to gas. It also sought to maximise the sending of freight by rail. Has the Minister met any of these targets? Does he have any intention of revising the strategy? If so, when does he intend to revise it? Does he honestly believe we will meet the targets set for overall emissions to be 13% over 1999 levels within the 2008-12 period?

Will the Minister revise the strategy and if so, when? Does he seriously believe we will meet the targets? What about the substance of the strategy? Are we achieving any progress on the specifics in the strategy?

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