Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 4: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the carbon footprint of his Department to date in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19203/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To minimise the carbon footprint of my Department in its daily operations, the Department through its green team, which was established some years ago, has over the past few years initiated a range of actions which I outlined in a previous reply so I will not repeat them.

The Department also operates a travel pass scheme for interested members of staff in order to encourage staff to use public transport in lieu of car transport.

No formal carbon auditing has been undertaken by my Department but being conscious of our obligations to the environment the steps mentioned above have been implemented in recent years. I intend to put in place measures to audit carbon output performance. We will continue to monitor energy consumption and to implement steps to minimise the carbon footprint of the Department in its daily activities. We are complying with the appropriate provisions in the National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 and in the new programme for Government.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I take it the Minister's reply is "I don't know. We have no way of calculating it but we are going to try and establish a method of so doing." I welcome that promise to do better. I will table a question in due course to measure how much progress the Minister makes.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate the question, which is a good one. In going through the preparation for this reply——

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Minister has not answered the question.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is a great question. What is a carbon footprint audit? Does Deputy Quinn know?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Minister is in government.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Does Deputy Quinn know?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Minister should respond to questions rather than pose them.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am responding in the form of a rhetorical question.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I asked the question. What is the answer?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Surely I am entitled to respond in the form of a rhetorical question, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Minister should be giving information rather than seeking it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are a number of definitions in the prepared script.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Minister's new Green Party colleagues will give him those.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I work with my Green Party colleagues. I accept Deputy Quinn's point. The Department's carbon footprint is not known. There are different ways of measuring it. Different methods of calculation are used both nationally and internationally.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Agree a system and do it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We will have to agree a model. Equally, I accept there is a lack of comprehensive data on energy consumption in public sector buildings generally, not just in our Department. I suspect that is the case across the public sector.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I refer the Minister to the Building Control Act 2007.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy will have a chance to respond.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The collation of specific data will be essential for developing a greater understanding of future progress in reducing emissions from this sector. We anticipate responding to further questions on this matter later in the year.