Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)

——a provision will be included to enable a Minister in an emergency to direct the commission and individual market players to take appropriate safeguard measures in the area of security of supply. It will also extend the remit of CER in some areas, particularly safety and security of supply.

Regarding the point made by the Deputy on the Kyoto Protocol, I was involved in its final agreement. Subsequently, our share of the burden within Europe was our 1990 emissions plus 13% of that figure. The year after we secured that figure, it was estimated we would exceed the 13% figure by another 22%, in other words, it was estimated that by 2008 we would be 35% above the 1990 figure. We are another 10% above the agreed figure at present. While we have made major progress, that is not to say we do not need to do more. It is not that we slipped by 10%. We reduced the amount considerably during the intervening four or five years. At the time we signed it, we were approximately 29% above it. We were due to go to 35% above it, and we are now approximately 23% above it. The matter must be tended to and is a matter directly for the Minister of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Obviously, as I have responsibility for energy, I have a role to play in this matter, as do several other Ministers.

See this speech in context