Results 1,561-1,580 of 5,587 for speaker:Kevin Humphreys

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: I have two questions. The first one concerns head 3 which obliges Ireland to adhere to any future international agreements, including EU 2050 targets. By introducing a questionable element in the Bill, head 3 has made that argument unnecessary. It is an unnecessary legal risk. My second question concerns the previous Fianna Fáil-Green Party Bill and the heads of the current Bill....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: It was even worse.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Mr. Linehan gave examples of legislative targets, each of which had a related penalty. The purpose of legislation is to allow the citizen to take legal action if the provisions are not followed. Mr. Linehan referred to waste management and landfill directives and legislation, which include targets and associated penalties. Is he juggling balls a little bit?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Mention was made of unit carbon inside the farm gate. Are distances from market taken into account? The dairy industry has a significant export market and, therefore, that is not a true measurement. Is transportation of exports accounted for in any measurement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Sectoral and national roadmaps have been done. The sectoral maps are added together to comprise the national road map. Would it not be better for each sector if we had an overarching figure and the sectoral road map was then applied?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: There will be a 12% increase in emissions in the dairy sector by 2020. Currently, it produces approximately 19 million tonnes of carbon. The 2020 figure for the entire nation will be 11 million tonnes. Many of the representatives from the sector say we are the best placed environmentally to produce food. While I can accept that, for us to meet the 2020 target, surely the sector will have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Is Mr. Kelly implying that we will have to trade emissions to reach the targets and to allow the agriculture industry to remain at the same level? Does he suggest emissions trading?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: I am sorry for being late. I have read the submission although I do not have the opening statement. I will get it later. The Fiscal Advisory Council is a template. Is it a good template to transfer onto this? With regard to figures in other submissions, such as the dairy sector's submission this morning, we are transposing the Kyoto Agreement into the heads of the Bill, which clearly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: We are talking about a 40-year legislation programme and science will change in that time. At this early stage, if the European target ends up at 80% to 95%, it is not the case that every member state will have a total target for the European Union. Will each individual state have a target of 80%? Others may carry a higher burden because they have a lower dependency on agriculture, which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: We got an increase actually.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Going on that logic, Ireland may not be set that target within the European Union. Would we prejudice ourselves by putting in a 40 year target at this stage when those negotiations or discussions have not really taken place?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Business of Joint Committee (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: I am not proposing that we bring somebody else in but the gap is opening up. We have had representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We should formally ask the Minister if he would like to make a written submission. I do not want to clog up the programme.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Business of Joint Committee (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: I think we should ask the Minister if he wishes to make a written submission.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: I believe Mr. Walker has covered most of the questions. I was interested to hear his view that responsibility should not lie in the Department of the Taoiseach, which is probably similar to mine. On head 8, IBEC's submission refers to the need to provide more detail. It also states that it should not be modelled on the UK's committee on climate change. I ask Mr. Walker to outline the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: With regard to head 12 and the potential cost burdens to Irish employers, how could the language be altered to better regulate it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Mr. Walker mentioned the pitfalls discussed by a UK committee on climate change and he also covered this when answering questions. Are there any other obvious pitfalls for which we should watch?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: What Mr. Walker proposes is an expert embedded group similar to the Fiscal Advisory Council. The NESC was going in that direction in one report.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Ms Murray mentioned a return of 30 times the investment in peatland restoration and referred to the existence of various studies. Can she give us any more examples of those types of studies?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: That would be helpful. Ms Murray also mentioned the Mayo experiment where there was success in capping greenhouse emissions. What is the possibility not only of capping emissions but actually making deposits of greenhouse gases?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht: Heads of Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2013: Discussion (Resumed) (5 Jul 2013)

Kevin Humphreys: Are there figures for tonnage per acre in an active bog?