Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I know the Minister of State will take on board my point regarding the housing stock. We can start to convince people on the ground in this regard. I mentioned children coming home from the schools. Senator Carroll is right. Our younger people are probably more aware of this area. We must offer incentives to the older generation such as conversion systems from oil to more sustainable heating levels and insulation in the home. They will then start to see the real benefits in cost savings with regard to energy. They will have warmer houses and start to engage with and understand more the benefits of these measures. Any measure in that regard is to be welcomed.

Global leaders are meeting at the Copenhagen summit and delegations from this country will attend. That is important and I wish them well. I am hopeful there will be positive outcomes and progression following the Copenhagen summit and the meetings that are ongoing. I am sure the roles of the various countries will be examined on a global level at the summit. The larger economies such as the United States of America, China and India will have a major role to play in controlling carbon emissions in the future. We, as members of the European Union, have a major role to play also. Even though Ireland is a small country, there is no doubt we must play our part and we in Fine Gael are supportive of that.

There are certain challenges unique to Ireland that other countries will not have to face. One of the major ones is our high dependence on agriculture. Agriculture is an important sector in our economy. It contributes enormously to exports which attract investment into our country, food production and so on. There should be a weighting system of some sort that allows us to produce our beef and other food for Europe and the wider world even though we are emitting carbon doing that. The alternative is to cut back on that but that would be detrimental to the economy because, as a rural economy, we are dependent on agriculture.

We must consider also the downside of importing beef and the huge number of carbon emissions associated with that. For example, if we import beef from South America, that would involve huge transportation costs and the cost of rearing the beasts from farm to table, all of which must be taken into account. Ireland should have a weighting system that allows the agricultural economy of this country to develop. We will play our part in other areas with regard to reducing carbon emissions. The debate is welcome and it should continue on a rolling basis.