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

The heavy lifting has to be done in the renewable sector. I refer to the debate I had earlier with Deputy O'Rourke regarding the delivery of the likes of offshore wind and the solar revolution that is taking place. If we can meet our targets in this area, with some 22 GW of power from renewables by the end of this decade, that would bridge half of the gap. That is the most significant first fundamental measure. The delivery of those offshore renewable projects in particular will give us a scale of power that will allow us to switch off the gas generation and meet our targets.

Transport and agriculture are two of the areas in which we face the greatest challenges. Demand management measures, which we are starting to see being introduced across the country, will be one of the significant developments. The Deputy will be aware that, this summer, through traffic is being taken out of Dublin city centre. We need to replicate that in other locations, particularly in those areas where we are really enhancing the public transport offering with bus services and so on. Accelerating delivery of demand management measures that can improve public transport is the second area in which there is the greatest potential. Agriculture will also have to go further and do more. I believe it can. People have been surprised by some of the speed at which agriculture is starting to reduce emissions, with a drop of some 30% in fertiliser use over the past two years. That was never modelled or expected by the EPA but it has actually happened. We need to go further than that.

In the industrial area, one of the areas in which big reductions can be achieved is through the likes of carbon capture and storage. For incinerators, cement plans and other large industrial users, it will not be an easy thing to do but it is absolutely achievable by the end of this decade. Some of these additional measures are the way we can close the gap.

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