Dáil debates

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development: Statements

 

9:05 pm

Photo of Michael FitzmauriceMichael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too wish all the Oireachtas staff and our colleagues in the House a happy Christmas.

Everyone speaks about tonnages, figures and percentages that we have to aim for, and about the degree to which we exceed our emissions targets. Will the Minister provide a facility for Deputies to talk to the people who do the number-crunching? Everybody in Ireland talks about carbon and figures but no one understands how we determine the numbers. The Minister stated in respect of forestry that we cannot add more than 26.8 million tonnes. It is damnable that trees that have been growing since 1990 throughout the country have been left to one side because they cannot be counted. Whoever does the number-crunching had better do it right. Any public representative who is interested in the matter should be able to learn how it is done, to understand it better. It has been written about in the media and everywhere else. Everyone talks about it but does not know how the figure of 26 million tonnes was calculated. Can that be facilitated by the Minister or his Department? It might require compiling a list of people in the various sectors who we can contact in order that they will tell us how the figure has been determined.

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