Results 4,941-4,960 of 8,196 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am certainly happy to say that I think carbon leakage is one that should just go if we are really trotting down our 25. I think that is the third or fourth different interpretation of what it might mean that we have heard. Again, that is not on Dr. Glynn. It is just an example. Around that issue, it might be referring to that question of non-territorial emissions so I was quite...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (29 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Apologies if this strayed a bit wider, but I had a question specifically about methane and possibly nitrogen. Dr. Glynn mentioned long-lived versus shorter-lived gases. I am also thinking about heightened intensity of such gases. If one is just counting the gas itself, on a longer term calculation, it may not be there in 100 years but the impact of its increased intensity over a five or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am putting my questions together, so I will be one moment.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I thank Deputy Bruton for asking the question - it saves me the trouble of asking it - about the split targets. The understanding is that a zero-emission target effectively accommodates the fact that biomethane may not be zero but may come to a net zero. That was a useful clarification. Professor FitzGerald mentioned the minimum target of 2030. I am a little concerned, however, that the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a concern that criterion (e), on cost effectiveness, is included in those first four functions about deciding how much carbon budget we have to save the planet, reduce emissions and achieve the target of a temperature increase of less than 1.5°C. I wonder what Professor FitzGerald interprets cost effectiveness as because there are different meanings. Is it about what is most...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: To clarify, I do think it is a matter of whether-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I wished to clarify something, in case I was unclear in my question, but it is fine because the professor's response addressed it in any case. My point was that one of the cost-effectiveness inputs to the policy is the how, that is, which approach we take, rather than the how much, which is the budget question. Professor FitzGerald stated Ireland did not achieve its 2020 targets. Given...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We mentioned the fact that science changes and it only seems to be changing in one direction at the moment. We heard in our examination yesterday that the Scottish Act has minimum interim targets but also provides for those targets to be raised within the carbon budgets where, for example, scientific expertise suggests that they might not be achieving 1.5°C limit and the evolution of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was not speaking to the 2030 or 2050 targets, but in terms of failures in the five-year budgets within that, for example, the budget to 2025, to 2035, to 2040 and so forth. That was what I was talking about with regard to sanctions. As a Member of the Oireachtas who has had the unfortunate experience of calling out failure on multiple occasions and on multiple issues, it is not an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was holding back on this because it is a slightly wider question, but if there is a third round-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: This is a question for Professor FitzGerald when wearing his economist hat. Will he comment on how economic thinking has been shifting with regard to the centrality of sustainable development and climate? This really relates to the front-loading question. How should or could action on climate change be reflected in our response to the Covid and Brexit crises? We have large financial and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (28 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: No, Professor FitzGerald touched on both of my questions. It seems that economics has not changed, but the climate has. We might need to reverse that. I appreciate the specific comments. I mentioned Brexit as well, but Professor FitzGerald touched on the Covid issues.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That answers my question of how we ensure that this is a second generation piece of legislation and that we have learned things. I think the witnesses will indicate some of the issues that will address that in writing. I appreciate that. I was interested in some key points that have been raised. I refer to the relative weakness of balance between Government and Legislature here, except...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They overlap. I am happy to let either respond.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They overlap. One question was for Mr. Church on Government accountability and ministerial discretion in the Bill and how that can be made more robust in making it more accountable to the Legislature. The other question, for Dr. Muinzer, was on interim targets and the SDGs in the Scottish Bill. I ask the witnesses to also comment in writing on the nitrogen balance sheet which Senator...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Could Dr. Muinzer comment on the sustainable development goals, SDGs, and the nitrates balance-sheet in a written follow-up?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would appreciate written comments from Dr. Muinzer on the idea of the separated targets because while it may be more difficult to achieve zero in terms of bio-methane the concern is that although it does not last as long it does have a quicker and higher impact. The same argument might be made, if we are looking to special qualities, that bio-methane targets might need to be much higher...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I have a couple of technical questions. What is the deadline for people sending us in follow-up pieces?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I forgot to ask the witnesses if there are any good practices in legislation in respect of offsetting.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: General Scheme of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020: Discussion (Resumed) (27 Oct 2020)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I refer to limits regarding how much neutrality is based on offsetting. I do not know if there are good legislative examples.