John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion tabled by Deputy O'Dowd. Today we received a delegation from the US Congress and a lunch was hosted for them at Iveagh House. The conversation at our table turned to what people would do later on this evening. I mentioned that I would be speaking on this particular topic. When we left Iveagh House it was a beautiful day and the bus had arrived for the delegation.

One of the congressmen turned and said to me jokingly that climate change suits our country well because he had enjoyed a glorious day here. As we walked back and discussed it in general terms, a number of us stopped for a moment to consider what is climate change. People of my age can remember that, when we started to drive, a car's windscreen would be frozen over on many mornings but now this is only occasional. At night time outside pubs and hotels one would see cars with newspapers on the windscreens, but that era is now gone.

It is important to realise that global warming is not just a concept but something that is happening around us — we do not need statistics to verify that it is happening because we can see the changes in our own lives. From this point of view, this motion is timely and important.

This country has seen radical change in the past ten to 15 years and it is crucial that we play a role. I acknowledge that our emissions have gone up in recent years but this is in the context of late economic and industrial development. The challenge today is to maintain economic activity while managing future emissions. It is important that people of my era continue to have the opportunity to work and support families and that we hand a safe and sustainable environment to our children. This is the challenge we face and there are competing goals involved.

I have listened to the comments of others but I believe the Government is addressing the serious issues in a responsible manner. The challenge is to meet the competing goals by ensuring economic viability is maintained and sustained while, at the same time, meeting our environmental challenges. There is not one simple answer as the subject crosses a range of issues and I intend to touch on some of these in the time available to me.

The Government has adopted a cohesive and dynamic approach to delivering on our sustainable energy agenda. Evidence of this commitment and our achievements to date can be seen in the recently published bio-energy action plan, the White Paper, Delivering a Sustainable Energy Future for Ireland, and the national climate change strategy. This motion has given the Government the opportunity to outline the numerous areas involved.

Support programmes put in place by the Government have more than doubled our renewable electricity capacity in the past two years and we have established new targets of 15% by 2010 and around 33% by 2020. Ireland has over one GW of renewable powered electricity connected to the national grid and providers of a further 630 MW have signed connection agreements. It is estimated that the contribution of renewable electricity to gross electricity consumption is now in the region of 8%. Between 2005 and 2010, the Government will have tripled Ireland's consumption of renewable electricity. Some of us who travel around the country can see the physical evidence of this in wind farms. We have set specific targets and goals and we are achieving them.

It is expected that wind will be the dominant technology in the 2010 mix of renewable electricity but the Government is not dependent on this source alone and is examining other renewable sources. For example, the Government is currently implementing an ocean energy strategy that involves the upgrading of research facilities at the hydraulics and maritime research centre in University College Cork, UCC, and the testing of a number of devices. There are clear and specific targets.

Talk of increases in our emissions in recent years leads people, rightly, to point to the area of transport. In the region of 2.25 million vehicles are on our roads and as our economy and workforce have grown, so too has the number of vehicles on the road and this is an area that must be addressed. Between 1991 and 2006 our workforce doubled from 1 million people to 2 million people.

The approach to reducing such emissions must be twofold: public transport must be increased while individual vehicles are also taken into account. I listened to some of the contributions last night and there seemed to be a lack of appreciation for efforts made in the area of public transport. It is easy to say there should be more and more public transport but real, tangible public transport has been delivered. Luas carries 80,000 passengers per day, DART has been upgraded to carry 90,000 passengers per day and we are in the public consultation phase on metro north and metro west. All of these are very significant public transport provisions.

A new train station will open at Adamstown in Lucan, my own area, in the next week or so. I am not suggesting that this in itself is sufficient but it is one of a number of projects and we are moving in the right direction. In coming years the capacity on the Kildare route line will increase significantly as we move from two to four tracks and create a proper commuter service with trains at ten minute intervals during rush hour.

In addition, there has been huge investment in quality bus corridors, QBCs, in my area. The Dublin Bus fleet has recently increased and new routes have been introduced. One new, interesting and experimental route in my area starts in Clondalkin and heads towards the city. Instead of weaving through various estates, the route stays on QBCs to offer a faster journey from parts of Clondalkin to the city. All of this has an impact on the increasing provision of public transport.

Some Members of this House are critical of our investment in roads and suggest they have nothing to do with public transport. Buses and inter-city connections constitute public transport and it is important that they are included in the overall picture. Increasing public transport alone is not sufficient action on climate change, although it will reduce the number of trips made in private vehicles.

The other side of this issue lies in addressing emissions from vehicles. In last year's budget the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, suggested taxing vehicles based on engine emissions rather than engine capacity. Government policy is addressing climate change in a range of areas.

In 2005, we launched an innovative pilot programme on bio-fuels excise relief. This resulted in the creation of eight bio-fuel projects and 16 million litres of bio-fuels going on the Irish market over a two year period. Building on the success of the pilot programme, we have put in place a further five year excise relief package, costing in excess of €200 million, that will see bio-fuels exceed a 2% market penetration in Ireland by 2008. A year ago none of my constituents mentioned bio-fuels but last week a constituent who had fitted a conversion kit to his car complained that there are not enough outlets supplying bio-fuels. The point is we are moving in the right direction.

I believe we are well on the way to meeting our targets under the Kyoto Protocol but we must recognise that climate change does not consist of a single issue, such as public transport, industry, residential consumption or lifestyles. It is the combination of these areas that is crucial and projects run by the Government, such as the Power of One campaign, will ensure we meet our Kyoto Protocol targets in the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012.

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