Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I do not, actually. The point I was going to make before I was interrupted is that we have a moral obligation to make a contribution. We need to challenge our carbon footprint and we need to address those issues. We in our economy cannot change the world, despite the fact that sometimes we are led to believe we can.

However, there are various ways and means by which we can go about giving a good example to everyone else. We can improve our economy and become self-sufficient. We said all those things before. In a previous incarnation the Minister and I were in the business of looking at those issues.

We can be positive. Transport and agriculture are two of the worst areas in so far as methane gas emissions are concerned. However, I am not so sure about the authenticity of the statistics. The transport sector, for example, changes from time to time. There has been an enormous change in the whole area of after-burning and reburning as regards internal combustion engines in the last five years. The motor industry has a responsibility, and I fully accept that. It is difficult to anticipate a situation whereby any country can survive without some transport, whether with electricity powered rail systems or roads on which electric engines are used. However, that is an area for future development, with enormous potential and it can make an impact worldwide if replicated.

I can never understand why no one ever addresses the whole question of local authority sewerage systems throughout the country. They are never mentioned in statistics but emit colossal amounts of methane gas. No one ever says a word because Governments are responsible for failing to provide the necessary funding to ensure this does not happen. The Minister knows this, of course, but if anybody doubts what I am saying, he or she should go to Kill, County Kildare, where there is a major dump, and listen to the complaints of the people in the area. They are being virtually poisoned by the amount of methane gas emanating from that facility.

Worse still, if one drives into Leixlip, County Kildare on any night, one gets the unmistakable nauseating smell of methane gas emanating from the local sewer. There have been plans to alleviate that for the last 15 years. We have been told in that time that the solution was imminent and that it would be addressed "next week". The Minister's colleague has indicated in recent times that it would be dealt with now. My impression is that it will not, but it is a serious incursion in an area that can be addressed. The technology is available, so why do the authorities put off until tomorrow what they could do today? After all, Ireland is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, according to some experts in this House. I cannot understand why a decision is not being made in an area where a definite effect can be achieved in the shortest possible time, yet nothing gets done. I bet that taxes the imagination of the Acting Chairman, as someone who has to listen to all types of argument in this House from time to time. It taxes mine and everybody else's as well.

Another area I am concerned about is the whole question of supporting sustainable energy houses. The SEI, as mentioned by the last speaker, had a laudable system of grant aid. No sooner had the Government's members sat in their ministerial cars, or cycled in front of the squad cars on their bicycles, than the Minister came in with a slash-hook and sliced the grants in two halves. In one fell swoop, the Minister became a slasher and sliced the grants in two halves.

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