Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I might answer the last question first. That would require European agreement. Planes can move from any one jurisdiction to another. I support the inclusion of aviation fuel within the likes of the NORA levy.

I would go beyond that. I think the taxation of aviation fuel is a critical issue, which I believe will be addressed by the European Union. It would have been addressed but the Covid crisis has probably postponed that because with people not flying the demand has fallen right through the floor. I agree with the Deputy. That is a development that we would support and should see developed but it has to be at a European level. We have to get the agreement of Europe.

I do not propose to accept amendments Nos. 2 and 3. In response to amendment No. 2, the primary purpose of the Bill is to establish the climate action fund on a statutory basis and provide for NORA levy funds to be paid by NORA to the climate action fund to support climate projects. While I thank the Deputy for recognising and including the imperative of reducing oil consumption in both his amendments, I do not believe his amendments are appropriate to the purposes of this Bill. The National Oil Reserves Agency was established to manage the State's strategic oil reserves, which the State is required to maintain under European legislation and International Energy Agency rules. It was established to perform this very particular function in 2010. It was also assigned the function of administering the biofuels obligation scheme, which it was ideally placed to do, as many of the oil companies which have an obligation to collect the NORA levy also have an obligation under the biofuels obligation scheme.

NORA is a small agency with very specific expertise in petroleum product storage and in the area of biofuels. The function of identifying measures to reduce oil demand in the State is one for my Department with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. While there is an urgent need to replace petroleum consumption with more sustainable alternatives, particularly in the transport sector and in the heat sector, it does not make sense to assign to the National Oil Reserves Agency a function in this area.

Specifically on amendment No. 3, for the reasons I have just explained, there is no requirement for a provision in the Bill to widen the definition of the operating costs and administrative expenses of the agency to include those promoting or developing measures to reduce oil consumption.

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