John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I was pleased with the constructive first meeting I had with the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. As I said in my statement then, the committee is a welcome addition to our national parliamentary structure, which clearly reflects the importance the Oireachtas attaches to the climate change agenda. I look forward to further engagements with the committee on national, EU and wider international aspects of that agenda.

Progress towards achieving the Government's domestic 3% average annual reduction commitment may be measured with reference to net national greenhouse gas emissions. While this includes emissions from installations in the EU emissions trading scheme, the control of emissions within that scheme is primarily a matter for the scheme participants.

The trading scheme allows participating installations to emit in excess of their allocation provided they purchase additional allowances in respect of any excess emissions. Alternatively, an installation may choose to reduce its emissions to the level of its allocated allowances. In this regard, the scheme provides the flexibility for installations to meet their obligations in the most cost-effective manner available to them.

Each installation's emissions are recorded by the EPA for the purpose of compiling an annual national emissions inventory. Any emissions above the total annual allocation to the emissions trading scheme must be covered through trading arrangements by the installations concerned and will not therefore be counted in assessing Ireland's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol.

On the light bulbs issue, savings in electricity consumption from more energy efficient lighting will reduce national emissions from electricity generation. As all electricity generation plants in Ireland are included in the emissions trading scheme and have their emissions capped for the 2008-12 period in advance, this reduction will not lead to any further reduction in Ireland's national distance to target for Kyoto Protocol compliance. However, the emissions savings will count towards the Government's domestic 3% average annual reduction commitment.

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