Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

They have added to the increased figure at which we find ourselves. We have reached 25% when we are meant to be at 13% over 1990 figures. The reality is the statistics are going in the wrong direction. It will not suit the Minister, even though he might choose to do it, to reinvent statistics to his own liking. Ireland is the sick man of Europe when it comes to environmental policies. Above all other countries, we were given an allowance that permitted us to exceed 1990 levels when the Kyoto Agreement came into force. Despite that buffer zone, we have chosen to exceed it by double the figure.

That is even before we get to the faulty mathematics underpinning the Bill and the money put aside by the Minister for Finance in the recent budget. The Bill is based on a premise that the price of these credits will be linked to the price of carbon, which currently stands at €15 per tonne. We know from experience that the increase in the price of oil, which will go upwards in the future, will mean a continuous increase in the cost of carbon credits. Due to the Government's failure to deal with carbon emissions, we also know the amount of tonnage for which we will have to buy credits will be substantially increased. The €100 million accounted for in this Bill, the €270 million accounted for by the Minister for Finance, are pathetically low figures that will be exceeded many times when the final bill is due.

That money could be used more productively. I hope it will be when there is a necessary change of government to implement the measures that should be introduced, such as a national insulation programme and measures that transfer spending from the roads budget to public transport. The two speakers the Government parties have decided to provide for the debate — a figure that demonstrates the depth of Government concern — put forward the incorrect argument that the Green Party will cease building all roads in Ireland. Last year, we spent €6 on roads for every €1 on public transport. Unless we correct the balance, the upward trend in statistics, with a 7% increase in transport emissions, will increase incrementally.

We have heard the hoary old arguments about decoupling economic growth from carbon emission growth. At the same time, the two speakers from the Government parties protest that to move any faster is to risk economic growth. The Minister cannot have it both ways. He cannot boast he has decoupled economic growth from carbon emissions growth while stating that he would risk economic growth if he was to take any measures to tackle climate change. It is a fallacious argument but that seems to be his practice.

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