Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 42 and 43 are grouped. These proposed amendments call for the inclusion of a reference to the management of soil carbon and the protection and rewetting of wetlands when the Minister, Deputy Kelly and the Government perform their functions under section 4. In the first instance, I fully accept that both the management of soil carbon and the protection and rewetting of wetlands are proven means of maintaining and developing carbon sinks, which are an important option in reducing our overall carbon footprint as a State. As such, these activities fall under the heading "mitigation policy measures".

The Bill, as initiated, does not make reference to any particular mitigation policy measures for good reason in that the nature and extent of such measures will change over time up to the year 2050, as successive mitigation measures take effect. For that reason, I do not consider it appropriate to single out these particular mitigation policy measures for inclusion in the Bill, rather they more properly belong to the context of the iterative national mitigation plans where specific soil carbon and wetland management measures can be specified. For this reason, I cannot support these amendments.

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