Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will consider Deputy Eamon Ryan's suggestion that a sub-committee might play a part. We have evidence, obviously, of people wanting to participate in improving the environmental situation here, farmers with carbon footprint in respect of dairy or beef or whatever. It is a case of people being well informed about the small measures they can take to help and of the changes communities and public buildings can make in terms of insulation, solar panels, wind energy, where appropriate, and so on.

Ireland really had four conditions.

The first condition was that our annual compliance targets from 2021 to 2030 be determined using a realistic starting point which would reflect the reality of the end point in 2020, and not based on the assumption that we have reached our minus 20% target. The second condition was an express recognition of our constrained investment capacity over a number of years. Given the state of the economy because of the collapse, it was not possible for Ireland to invest in the way that it should. That included the time that the troika was here and all of that. That meant that we could not meet our 2020 targets. The third condition wasan express recognition of the low-mitigation potential of agriculture, which constitutes 40% of Ireland's non-emissions trading system emissions. We have a profile that is very similar to New Zealand's. Very few other countries have that kind of profile. Another condition is to be allowed to use the net afforestation for land use, land-use change, and forestry, LULUCF credits, which constitutes about 10% of annual emissions. It is important to note that that estimate for our forestation was based on the rules of directive 529, which apply up to 2020. These are areas that we are going to have to work very hard on to reach where we want to be between 2021 and 2030. We will have some saving grace starting off if we can start in 2021 instead of 2020.

Deputy Adams referred to flooding in particular locations around the country. Clearly these are physical requirement to be dealt with to try to hold back the force of nature when it happens. As the Deputy knows, when the Corrib, the Lee or the Shannon floods, it is virtually impossible to deal with it unless long-term preparations are made. They have proven to be a success in Clonmel, down in Fermoy and other locations, where despite very heavy rains and strong floods, the defences put in place have succeeded. These are things that have to be analysed. The engineering has to be gotten right. We have to have the resources to go and provide for the defences. Whether it is in small villages or towns, it applies right across the country. Last year, we set up a specific organisation dealing with the Shannon, which is now at chief executive level now rather than just participation level. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, met with that group again recently. They have made significant headway on looking at what might be done given the very low level of descent of the Shannon over a very long distance, which is the principal cause of lateral flooding when lakes back up and the capacity is not there to take the water away in the way that people might imagine. These are points that are the focus of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, at the moment. I suggest that Deputy Adams might have a conversation with him.

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