Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The way those targets are evaluated is that it is the cumulative number between 2013 and 2020. It is not the number in 2020. In 2013, 2014 and 2015, we were ahead of target. We were exceeding what was expected, but that, of course, was because of the depressed economy.

In 2016 and 2018, we undid all that and went on a rising trend. We are about balance, however, so the two years in which we will exceed the targets are 2019 and 2020. We do not know where we stand in 2020 because Covid-19 has had an impact on what the figure will be and we do not know what that is. The prediction is that we will be over the aggregate target, and the potential fine would be between €5 million and €13 million. That was before Covid-19 occurred, so the expectation is that the outcome will be at the low end of that scale. Until the figures come in for 2020, we will not know the potential penalty.

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