Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)

I would be glad to receive any positive proposal the Deputy might have to achieve our national and international objectives. I do not anticipate any EU fines if we implement our national climate change strategy successfully. We will meet our commitments under the Kyoto protocol, largely because we are in recession, although that is not a good reason to meet our targets. We are now engaged in a process with sectoral interests to ensure we meet our Europe 2020 obligations, which are much more challenging; transport and agriculture in particular represent a major challenge. I look forward to receiving those proposals in due course from the Deputy.

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