Brendan Ryan (Labour)

Correct. Approximately 28% of our greenhouse gas emissions emanate from agriculture. If we are determined to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of the contributions of different sectors to both the economy and our greenhouse gas emissions, we must face up to and deal with the part played by agriculture. There is a sense that agriculture is benign and that it involves green fields, etc.

The second contributor to our greenhouse gas emissions about which I am concerned is transport. One of the reasons for the growth in emissions in transport is the huge increase in the transport of goods by road. The rail strategy group informed the Government that we ought to divert some of the goods transported by road to rail but that this would involve intervention by the State in terms of subsidies and supports. I understand a significant number of agencies and private enterprises want to use the railways but that there is a problem with allowing them to do so. The current operator of the rail service — Irish Rail — is deliberately and systematically running down its rail freight business. The company wants to get out of this sector completely. That is a profound contradiction of any national strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions because one of the most effective ways in which such emissions could be reduced would be by moving large quantities of goods by rail and, in particular, at night. From 10 p.m. to 5.30 a.m. or 6 a.m. our railways are virtually empty. Considerable amounts of money were spent on upgrading the rail network and it remains empty for most of the night because many of the goods that used to be transported by rail are now delivered by road.

If the fundamental argument is that it is more cost beneficial to industry and manufacturers to transport goods by road, we must consider the entire structure of taxation in the context of the overall common good, namely, the reduction of emissions. We must ask whether we believe this is the most important issue with which our generation must deal and whether it will determine whether the planet will be capable of supporting life. If the answer is yes, we must develop and create a consensus which will enable us to make the decisions that will make it more attractive economically, either by taxation or the imposition of charges, to send goods by rail rather than by road. If we removed a huge number of trucks from our roads, the consequence would be a significant reduction in greenhouse emissions per tonne of freight.

Private transport, energy, etc., are matters for another day. I would love to hear a Government Minister explain why there is no evident strategy to transfer goods from road to rail transport, particularly in view of the fact that this would have an immediate and major impact on our greenhouse gas emissions.