Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

I do not know what the Minister has been doing. Maybe he has been too tied up with the incinerator or its alternative. I and others tabled parliamentary questions recently on the decision made in the past 12 or 14 months to locate a landfill in the Bog of Allen. Doing so would affect carbon trapping and sequestration. Bogland is supposed to act as a reservoir for carbons and the development of vegetation therein is ideal for this purpose, yet we are to stick a landfill site in the middle of the bog. It is but one of many that is to be located in the bog and this will have major consequences. How much hypocrisy can we take?

Carbon sequestration is affected by the kinds of trees we grow, the number we grow and the location in which they are grown. I am sure other speakers stated our bogland would be ideal for growing trees. Some tree species are four times better than others at trapping carbon but I have never seen this theory promoted in any quarter in Ireland. It is a simple matter and everyone could plant the efficient trees in their gardens. Such a tree would not take up the entire garden but would make a positive contribution to carbon trapping.

We must differentiate between fuels that are carbon-neutral and those that are not. Transporting fuels half way across the world is hardly the most efficient way to proceed. We can and must grow our own and biofuel production must be balanced with food production. The European Union has a very strong role to play in this regard. I do not refer to a cute role whereby the Union would off-load food production to third countries and pretend it could not produce it itself. The Union can balance food production with fuel production. Let each member state have its own share of the spoils and let us not exclude certain industries, such as the sugar beet industry, as we did last year. I tabled a parliamentary question last week and received a reply with a graph indicating massive reductions in Italy, Poland and elsewhere. The Minister should have studied this. There was no reference at all to the United Kingdom or France in the reply. I wonder what happened in this regard.

We need to be serious and realistic about climate change. We can make a positive contribution but should not state it will be disastrous and advocate moving to high ground, nor should we believe we can solve the problem ourselves. For God's sake, will the Government take a leading role by allocating money for the inefficient, outdated, unworkable, badly designed sewage treatment schemes throughout the country that are causing considerable pollution, without eliciting any comment at all, and those emitting considerable amounts of methane gas? It is possible to trap methane gas. Once, when in another jurisdiction, I saw a sewage treatment system in operation and thought it was a swimming pool. One does not see too many of those in Ireland. It was a positive feature in the landscape, made a major contribution to the environment and was aesthetically pleasing.

I thank the Acting Chairman, Deputy Charlie O'Connor. I am sorry I did not mention Tallaght in my contribution, but I will mention it the next time.

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