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

We have a long-term strategy to which we have to commit and which we have to deliver to the European Union. We are committed that it will contain an element of net zero, which will be our target for 2050. The Department has been giving thought to what new policies we need to introduce under the EU Green New Deal because that is moving from a 40% to a 55% target on 1990 levels. Clearly, this has implications for us. Our Department has therefore been evaluating the sorts of options that could dramatically increase our ambition and they will be in new areas. They will be in areas we all know about, such as modal shift, but they will also look at our heating systems, industry and farming and land use and right across all those sectors we need to be radical in the approach we take. My Department has been thinking about this. As for saying there is an accurate way of moving from 3.5% to 7% or any other percentage, I do not think we are at that level of sophistication in the modelling at all yet. We are identifying policy instruments that can start to move us in that direction and I think those are the ones we will have to adopt. Whether we adopt a target nationally or subscribe to the EU Green New Deal, we will have to step up significantly our ambition and develop policy instruments to match.

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