Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment his views on whether enough is being done by Ireland to tackle climate disruption; if he will set sectoral targets to reduce emissions; and his plans to tackle climate disruption. [53191/18]

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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What are the views of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment on whether enough is being done by Ireland to tackle climate disruption? Will he set sectoral targets to reduce emissions? What are his plans to tackle climate disruption.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As I indicated to Deputy Curran earlier, the position as of today is that, cumulatively, we will have missed our 2013 to 2020 targets by 5%. After the crash, we looked grand but once the recovery started, we began to go seriously off-track. The more worrying projection is that in 2020 we will be 95% off our targeted starting point. We will be 1% down on 2005 emissions; we were supposed to be 20% down. That is a bad starting point for the period 2020 to 2030. That is why the Government has given me sanction to go and draw up a whole-of-Government approach.

I agree with Deputy Neville that we will have to set sectoral targets. That will be difficult because there are all sorts of different sectors. There is the public service itself, which I believe should be leading by example; commerce, industry and agriculture; and, on the more domestic side, waste, transport, energy and residential. Each of these sectors will have to make a contribution. The most effective contribution from different sectors will depend on the ease with which they can adjust and the cost of that adjustment.

I believe the suggestion in Deputy Neville's question is correct that we need to identify targets across the sectors and the sort of policy tools that would deliver those targets. There will be an element of trying to work out what are the most effective tools and what targets can we realistically expect to achieve but we need to set stretched targets in every one of the sectors that I mentioned.

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply.

As I stated from the outset, we need to set these targets, but these have to be achievable and tangible targets that the Departments can buy into and also have an overall measure to get to where we want to get to. As the Minister stated, we will be 95% behind. We are coming from a low base.

Like some of my colleagues here, I sit on the Joint Committee on Climate Action. The committee has toured where efficiencies can be made.

We also must be mindful when making decisions on where we need to go that we have set up the alternatives for these particular industries. Agriculture is one of our major industries and perhaps the major natural resource of the country. When we approach this issue, I hear much in the debate that we must look at viable alternatives for this sector to be able to help those involved to move and also be mindful that the agricultural sector is the most carbon efficient in the EU from a dairy perspective. In beef, it is in the top five. Production must be kept where it is because the demand is there and we do not want production to move to off-shore places that are not as carbon efficient. We must be mindful of all these matters.

As I have said to the Minister previously, communication and a communication strategy will be key in implementing this as well. I would like to know the communication trajectory in relation to this.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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This is a tricky area. Teagasc has indicated that, potentially, there are 9 million tonnes in carbon reductions that could be achieve in agriculture. They have looked at better farming methods, sequestration through forestry and other methods, and biofuels. There is theoretical potential. It is about how we capture that potential.

Deputy Neville is correct. The Irish beef sector is roughly 10% more efficient in carbon terms than the rest of Europe. We are much better in milk. We are approximately 33% more efficient in milk, pork and chicken. We have an edge. However, the non-ETS targets system does not give us credit for that. One would have to move agriculture into the ETS sector to get credits. Agriculture has not been put into that cap-and-trade part of the system.

We have to work with developing initiatives that could see us realising those theoretical gains that have been outlined by Teagasc. Clearly the size of the herd will be a factor because the herd size is very significant in this regard.