Results 4,001-4,020 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: It is different. I am trying to get a picture of the issue. What about the increasing target?

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: Today's debate has been most informative. In fact, some of my preconceptions have been challenged through the course of the discussion. The delegates referred in their submission to legally binding targets. I agree that there must be such an element. After all, legislation which is not robust is meaningless. It is one of the reasons I favoured the automatic inclusion of our...

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: Will Mr. Harte answer my question on the potential shock to the economy of aiming for a higher reduction based on the 1990 rather than the 2005 base level?

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?

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 is Ms Murray's definition of "adequate expertise", as referred to in her submission, and in what way does the expert advisory body fail to meet that criterion?

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: Will Ms Murray outline the deficit she sees in the expert advisory body?

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: Yet Ms Murray referred to the fiscal advisory council, which is politically appointed, as a good model for such bodies.

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 supportive of the notion that provisions in this area should be included in legislation. However, I have yet to come across any environmental proposal, whether relating to wind turbines, wave energy development or otherwise, where there has not been some type of complaint. For instance, the construction of turbines off Arklow prompted objections on the basis that spawning grounds would...

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: 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: 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 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?