Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I support the amendments tabled by Deputy Gilmore on the basis of the arguments he has adequately made. I get the unmistakable feeling of this Bill being somewhere in the region of the need to comply with the requirements imposed as a result of Kyoto and subsequent agreements instigated by the European Union, while also having the elasticity to provide a fig leaf of cover as the Government disappears into the electoral long grass where it will be met and smitten by the electorate. It is preposterous to bank up carbon credits for the future in order to be able to draw on them at some later stage as if they formed some kind of inhaler. The Minister has recently been boasting of how great a job he has done on the elimination of methane gas. The agriculture sector has nearly been closed down to combat the emissions of methane gas. He can start closer to home and deal with the methane gas emanating from the sewage treatment plants throughout the country and the effluent that is escaping into our rivers and waterways. While the Minister may be reluctant to answer questions we table on the topic, it is a serious matter. I take this opportunity to mention that we will be visiting this matter again with more frequency than we have in the past. The indication of an upper level, as Deputy Gilmore said, is a serious proposal which is not specifically stated but in this amendment the Minister is being called upon to nail his colours to the mast. Let us see the colour of his eyes.

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