Results 5,941-5,960 of 8,445 for speaker:Alice-Mary Higgins

Seanad: Sustainable Tourism: Statements (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I would love to stay to hear the full debate but I must attend a meeting of the Joint Committee on Climate Action that is taking place. I will look back on this debate with great interest. I will highlight a few specific issues. They include sustainability of the industry, which has been mentioned already, and the quality of employment. Part of recognising and valuing a quality tourism or...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: They are in two sets. Could the Chair indicate when I am halfway through my time and I will switch to the other set? My first questions are brief and relate to economic matters. Like others, I have been struck by the fact that €90 million is peanuts. Given the many strong cases being made about areas that will need transition support, I have been struck by the difference between...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: That is all on that matter. I will move to a different topic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Is the professor referring to all of it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Building on that and in light of the environmental externality argument, the tax applies to carbon, but does it not also apply in respect of other greenhouse gases that are part of the fuel mix, for example, to methane, which is a large component of shale gas? The costs relating to methane as a greenhouse gas are being carried socially and environmentally by society and that should be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I am specifically referring to other greenhouse gases that are parts of fuel. Does the same environmental externality not apply to them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Partially.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Its carbon content is one thing. This is a core issue. The UNFCCC has said that 1 tonne of methane is equivalent to 34 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Professor Howarth made a very clear point to the committee last week. It is interesting that the EPA does not measure carbon dioxide in its national emissions inventory, it measures carbon dioxide equivalent. Should we be measuring other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: The levels do not seem to match. We are adding 75 cent on natural gas at the moment, versus the increase in carbon tax. If that is the case, I accept that. I will come back to Professor FitzGerald. I was very surprised about the letter the council sent to the Department. I was not just surprised by the content of the letter but its timing. The council is an independent body...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In one of those caveats, Professor FitzGerald mentioned that natural gas is a suitable alternative back-up technology. However, we are now looking at importing LNG and, wherever emissions happen, they affect the global emissions piece. The Professor will know that if that becomes a project of common interest, PCI, it will come with expectations, for example for higher priority access to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Economically speaking, can we get out of the commitments that we make under a PCI without extra costs?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: If a PCI commits Ireland to the import of LNG, does that make it more difficult to reverse the emphasis-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: We are considering a terminal for its importation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: In that regard-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Would it be more difficult for us to shift our economic focus if we commit to a PCI?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Climate Change Advisory Council Annual Review 2019: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: It seems that most of the research in this area has happened over the past decade and that matters are evolving.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Land Use: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: Deputy Stanley has touched on some of the issues I will raise. I will group my questions and then ask one follow-up question on a different issue. Perhaps Dr. Haughey will respond on the nitrates issue as we have heard mainly from the Department. In the IPCC report, one of the most significant changes in land use in the past 50 years has been the 800% increase in the use of nitrates. I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Land Use: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: I was surprised when I heard that figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Land Use: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My apologies for my mistake. Under the Heritage Act, where persons cut hedgerows for road safety reasons, they no longer have to report doing so to a local authority. Has that affected the accuracy with which we can measure hedgerows? Is it anticipated that, under CAP, the measurement of the carbon sequestration role of hedgerows will be done alongside their habitat role? Will we have a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Climate Change and Land Use: Discussion (16 Oct 2019)

Alice-Mary Higgins: My problem is that we do not know as much about hedgerow coverage as we used to because hedge cutting for road safety purposes is no longer reported to local authorities. Biogas has been specifically mentioned. I see a potential tension in the future. When methane was discussed last week, we heard that it acts faster. There are concerns that methane, in particular, may need some capping...