Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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119. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in view of the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency has conceded that Ireland will fail to achieve its binding European Union 2020 greenhouse gas reduction target by as much as 15%, and a briefing from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, details supplied, notes that a shortfall, in the range of 1% to 4% on the overall target, could result in significant costs to the Exchequer, the contingency planning his Department is putting in place to cover this eventuality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9989/15]

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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This question relates to the EPA raising the fact that we will miss some of the targets on greenhouse gas emissions and the relationship between that and the delivery of the mechanisms to meet those targets. If we do not meet the targets, we could end up paying hard cash for not delivering on the targets we have signed up to on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. As she is aware, responsibility for co-ordinating Ireland's position on climate policy rests with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Under the 2009 EU effort-sharing decision, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government advises that Ireland is on course to comply with annual emissions reduction targets for the compliance period of 2013 to 2016.  However, in respect of the remaining years to 2020, a significant compliance challenge has been highlighted by the EPA.

There is an acute awareness of this challenge across sectors, not least by transport.  As the Deputy will be aware, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill is currently progressing through the Dáil.  It will create a statutory obligation to develop a national mitigation plan for Ireland which will seek to put in place the necessary mitigation measures to meet the long-term policy objectives of transitioning to a low carbon economy by 2050.  The first iteration of the plan will place particular focus on identifying those measures needed to address the challenges arising from the second half of the compliance period, that is, from 2017 to 2020. My Department's contribution to the plan is currently being developed and, in keeping with commitments under the Aarhus Convention, my officials expect to invite stakeholders to a consultative workshop on the transport element of the plan in the coming weeks.

In terms of non-compliance costs, the comprehensive expenditure report 2015 to 2017 sets out three-year expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group.

All spending decisions must be cognisant of these limits within the wider context of the new fiscal structures being put in place at a European level through reforms to the Stability and Growth Pact. Mitigation is a cross-sectoral issue that will require a whole-of-government approach in tackling some very complex matters between now and 2020.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I know the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has the co-ordinating function, and part of the reason we may well have understated our problem is the downturn in the economy and the reduction in traffic movements. We must heed what the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has indicated: if the modelling scenarios are realised, the scale of investment, compliance costs and climate finance required to be funded by the Exchequer for the period from 2021 to 2030 could result in the displacement of other Government programmes. Essentially, it has argued that we will have to make up from the Exchequer what we do not provide for in mitigating measures.

The timeline for the DART underground sees a decision being forced in September of next year, after which the railway order will cease to be legal. That would be a game-changer. One of the difficulties is that the sectoral plans in the climate legislation that has been published and started its passage through the Dáil will not come into effect for two years after the legislation is put in place. We are making targets even more unrealistic by pushing this out into the future. This is a real issue.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that there is no question at all of the Government understating or miscalibrating the consequences of the climate change targets and what it will mean for our own and other economies across Europe. We are working with the European Commission and all our Departments to develop a plan to deliver our contribution to the objective set by the European Union for itself. Within my Department, we will be required to draft the transport element of the national mitigation plan and submit it to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. We will have the first draft of this work done in the coming weeks and I expect that the overall national mitigation plan will be published by the summer of 2017.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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I was not suggesting it was miscalibrated. It is self-evident that if there is less transport because of the downturn, there may have been understatement of the normal position in a functioning economy. It is welcome that there will be a publication in the next few weeks, as we have lost much time on this issue. This leads to another question on the kind of fiscal expansion required into areas such as the delivery of really good public transport. We will be very compromised when it comes to the sectoral plans, particularly with regard to agriculture, and some sectors will possibly have to do more than what would otherwise have been expected. There may well be a role for the European Union or private funding in this area.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I do not wish to mislead the House in any way. My comments on the transport element of the mitigation plan indicated that we would be submitting our contribution to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for consideration in the overall plan, which would be published in the summer of 2017. That being said, I understand there will be a period of public consultation in the interim to consider what is proposed and the consequences for our economy, as well as allowing stakeholders to make their views known.

I am absolutely clear that public transport has a crucial role to play in alleviating the consequences of climate change. That is why we are delivering Luas cross-city which we aim to have up and running by 2017 to deliver an additional 10 million journeys. That is why we put more than €100 million into CIE before Christmas to maintain existing public transport, and with the funding we will deliver new buses to the Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus fleets this year to meet the needs to which the Deputy referred.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister should not forget to plant a few more trees.