Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to respond on behalf of the Government and I thank the Fine Gael Party for putting down the original motion.

Having observed and listened to the debate over the past two nights it is blatantly obvious Fine Gael has nothing substantive to offer in terms of addressing Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions. Its Members had no ideas, no policies, no silver bullets and nothing constructive to bring to the debate.

Fine Gael is in good company on the Opposition benches. The only useful thing we have heard from that side of the House in the past two nights was the belated acknowledgment by the Labour Party that purchases of carbon credits to supplement domestic emission reductions must be part of the overall response to our Kyoto Protocol commitments. It is a bit late in the day for the Labour Party to wake up and get to grips with this fundamental issue but it is better late than never.

One thing that did surprise me was the downgrading of the climate change agenda by the Green Party. It seems no longer to be a priority for it and its members did not even bother to turn up last night to hear the contributions of the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche. Their contribution tonight, as it has been on other occasions, involved tax, more tax and more tax and was compounded by the confusion emanating from the lips of Deputy Eamon Ryan, who engaged in deliberate obfuscation. They cannot accept that the Government supports the EU's ambition for a 30% reduction in emissions from developed countries by 2020. I suggest they read the strategy as that target is an integral part of it. Sir Nicholas Stern pointed out, in his recent report on the economics of climate change, that economic growth and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive. It is not a matter of economic competitiveness or greenhouse gas emission reduction — it is both.

Before going any further I will address two specific points made by Deputy O'Dowd last night. He called for the conversion of all public buildings to green energy. The Government is already committed to significant emission reductions in the public sector and has included that commitment in its new strategy. He also asked the House to support the introduction of a new system of annual, open and transparent reporting but the Government is already committed to strengthening reporting and review arrangements. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government will co-ordinate an annual report which will be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and presented to the Joint Committee on Environment and Local Government, as stated in the strategy.

I assure the House that Ireland is on course to meet its greenhouse gas emission commitments for the purposes of the Kyoto Protocol. The previous national climate change strategy, which the Government published in 2000, was hugely successful in reducing our overall level of emissions and in decoupling growth in emissions from economic growth. The figures speak for themselves and Irish people can be very proud of our performance over the past six years or so. While our economy grew by 150%, we managed to limit the growth in our greenhouse gas emissions to just 25%, an impressive performance by any standards. The new strategy aims to build on that success by continuing the decoupling of emissions from economic growth and ensuring further reductions in actual greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, including transport. Not only will the policies in the new strategy reinforce our Kyoto compliance, they will initiate national preparations in anticipation of more demanding emission reduction targets in the period to 2020 and beyond.

The Kyoto Protocol is only a first step for the international community in seeking to stabilise global greenhouse emissions at a safe level. Ireland's contribution to the international effort, under Kyoto in the first instance but also in the longer term, will be achieved without compromising competitiveness, economic growth or Irish jobs. Unlike the Opposition, we will not pull the plug on the economy or Irish jobs. We will not tax Irish industry out of competitiveness and the Government will ensure we meet our commitments on a basis that is responsible, transparent and fully consistent with the provisions of the protocol itself.

Both the new climate change strategy and the White Paper on energy are significant and ambitious policy documents. They strengthen our energy sector and put Ireland on a path progressively to lower our greenhouse gas emissions in the period to 2020. The European Union has been proactive in promoting a concerted international response to climate change. It is a global problem that demands a global solution. As a member of the EU Ireland supports that position and we are demonstrating that support by putting ourselves on a pathway to Kyoto compliance.

On any assessment involving a fair range of parameters our performance on greenhouse gas emissions is better than any other EU member state. I remind Deputy Eamon Ryan and others that other countries in Europe buy carbon credits, such as Spain, Belgium and Italy, as well as Japan. It is part of the overall strategy, which is a sensible strategy for ensuring we do not in any way detract from the ongoing development of our economy and the creation of large numbers of jobs, which has been a feature of the economy over the past ten years.

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