Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, it has not, but I assume it will do so at its next meeting. As I understand it, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, has completed the Bill which will be published very shortly. I expect it will go to Cabinet at the next meeting. The European Council did discuss the 2030 climate and energy framework. Obviously, Ireland recognises the basis of the proposed targets set out in the European Commission's communications, including a 40% reduction in EU level greenhouse gas emissions and a proposed EU-wide 27% target for renewable energy by 2030. We need to have substantial and accurate information on which to base such decisions.

Particular account must be taken of our agricultural output and productivity, which is clearly set out in the Commission's communication. During the discussions, President Van Rompuy specifically articulated that, which is an important development from Ireland's perspective.

I saw at first hand the damage caused by mountainous seas off the west coast during that period of storms which ranged from force eight to 11. Beaches that had been there for a few millennia were washed away, including sand dunes and land, and much damage was inflicted as a result. The Government has tried to respond to that in so far as possible, given the limited resources we have. It was done through local authorities, the Office of Public Works and the co-ordination unit dealing with emergency responses.

I was in Galway shortly after the major floods and saw the ferocious power of water flowing out of the Corrib to the Atlantic. When it met with a tide that was 20 feet higher than normal, it backed up to the city. Even if exceptional flood defences are put in, it takes proper planning and a considerable financial injection to get it right. It has worked in places around the country, such as Clonmel, where flood defences have been put in place in recent years.

The argument that is now raging worldwide concerning major countries, such as China and others in the Far East, where significant decisions are being taken to change the ways of the past, also impacts on us here. We do not have all the data one needs concerning wave or tidal power. There are test sites off Clare and Annagh Head on the west coast. There are difficulties and challenges arising from dealing with renewable wind energy, both offshore and onshore, in addition to the legitimate right of people to deal with such matters.

In the context of the current crisis in Ukraine, the European Council meeting discussed the supply of Russian gas to eastern European countries. When their leaders speak about their complete dependence on that fuel for so many things, it changes the nature of the discussion abruptly. That is why the European Council decided on an expansion of the opportunity from the Iberian peninsula, which has a totally co-ordinated market from Spain and Portugal and around the Pyrenees to France and other areas on the southern corridor from Ukraine. In the southern Mediterranean region there are other opportunities for gas to be supplied, thus not being dependent upon Russia. The question was also raised about liquified natural gas being supplied because the United States will become independent in its energy requirements within a few years.

For our part, we want to measure up in the best way we can. We have to make changes that are not always easy to comply with, which is a challenge. We have potential, given the current level of agricultural production and where it can rise to. As an island nation, we must export the vast majority of what we produce. The structure of the agri-sector is such that there is very little mitigation one can do in the context of reducing that sector's emissions. If we do not supply that high quality food from a base of high integrity then it will be supplied from other quarters, albeit perhaps of a lesser standard. That is an important issue for jobs, the economy and the integrity of the food we produce.

While I thank the Deputy for his questions, which are all relevant, I do not have all the answers. We want, and are willing, to play our part as a member of the European team now that we can have an impact on climate change in a way that is for everybody's benefit. I take the Deputy's opening point about former President Robinson.

The people at the Marine Institute can track wild salmon going back out into the Atlantic for two years because of the angle of refracted light as they are now chipped, yet the mortality rate is very high. It is not because of driftnet or draughtnet fishing because that is gone, so we must determine the reason for that mortality rate. My information is that if the temperature of the Gulf Stream rose a very small amount, the entire traditional Atlantic salmon stock would have to move 1,000 miles north. This matter was raised at the European Council meeting a few years ago when people pointed out the emergence of land in Greenland which had been covered in ice for thousands of years.

I remember that when I was much younger I read The Snows of Kilimanjaroby Hemingway. A number of years ago, I had an opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and people said then that all of this would be gone by 2015 or 2020. It is disappearing at that rate but this is an issue for Ireland as well as every other country.

Visiting primary schools around the country, I see young children getting involved in the greening of the economy. They have an understanding of how fragile the entire system is and how everybody can make a contribution, that we did not have at their age.

The Government will produce the Bill and let us debate it then. In playing our part, we will make our decisions based on being part of the European Union, while taking into account how important the agri-sector is for us as a country.

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