Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to discuss this issue of grave international concern that affects the developing and developed world. It is now being addressed in Ireland. The legislation is long overdue. I agree with Senator Barrett's analysis of the need to implement this much quicker. Kicking the can down the road a further year or two without implementing the legislative changes that are being introduced here is not wise. Given the international problem of greenhouse gas emissions, or carbon dioxide emissions, in various jurisdictions, this issue must be dealt with on a global platform. The Minister of State will agree with that.

Ireland's greenhouse gas emission level is approximately 0.1% of the global total. Therefore, we are a very small player in the overall scheme of things. Our influence can best be exerted at European level by feeding into European co-operation between member states. Over the past 30 years, Europe has actually reduced its carbon dioxide emission level. Interestingly, the EU 27 emission level in 1990 stood at approximately 4.3 billion tonnes, or 19% of the global output, and it was down to 11.2% in 2011. Starkly on the other side, China is going in the opposite direction. Its proportion of the global total increased from approximately 11% in 1990 to approximately 28.5% in 2011. Therefore, there is a lot of work to be done. Ireland on its own cannot do it, but this Bill represents a massive step in the right direction. There are shortcomings in it that we will have an opportunity to debate on Committee and Report Stages.

The Minister of State outlined the issue of targets, which was debated in the other House and at committee level. Very often, Government policy lacks specific targets. Various Departments are trying to improve internal performance and there is an effort to improve the work of the committee structure in the Oireachtas to try to obtain more specific performance-based targets. This legislation does not have such specific targets. If there is no target or primary objective, it is very difficult to drive performance in any organisation or under any policy programme. While it might be argued it is difficult to set targets, given that national targets in some of the areas overlap with European targets, none the less, in order to achieve the objectives of the Bill one must realise targets are important.

Agriculture represents approximately 44% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland. The sector is a very important force to drive our economic recovery and meet the objectives of Food Harvest 2020 and Food Wise 2025. Interestingly, however, Food Wise 2025, with the removal of dairy quotas, does not have any projection or platform in regard to environmental standards within agriculture. Such standards would actually benefit the agriculture sector in general, particularly smaller operators. Areas of natural beauty in the west, particularly commonage areas and uplands, would benefit. In this regard, there was a missed opportunity. This needs to be addressed, and I hope we will get an opportunity to delve further into that during the course of the debate on other Stages.

Without question, improvements have been made. There are opportunities to drive research and development in this area, bringing on board the interested stakeholders in the business community. Families play an important role, as do farmers, civic society, the university sector and Government agencies. Through the universities, we have a platform in conjunction with Teagasc. Interestingly, I recently attended a briefing in which Teagasc was outlining its own plans. It outlined clearly that it has some of the finest scientific researchers in the world, based in Moorepark. We can use them as a resource in a cautionary manner to add to the objectives of this Bill.

The other key national sectoral stakeholders, including the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, have key responsibilities in this area. There should be a mechanism built into the reporting and collaboration structures to allow the Oireachtas committee to engage with the advisory group and the reports. Instead of just submitting reports to the Oireachtas Library, there should be engagement thereon, particularly involving the departmental committees within the Oireachtas setting. I am sure we will have an opportunity to explore this further on the next Stage.