Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

One could project an estimate but I do not think any projection would be 50%. We could undertake the scientific research and provide the figure. I want to make a key point in respect of the earlier debate and the comments just made in terms of a trading system. Nothing has been specifically designed yet. There are proposals coming forward from various quarters as to how this transition could be funded, particularly in the context of land use and agriculture. We have a challenge in this country, particularly when it comes to climate. We need to invest massively in a transport system for change and we need to retrofit housing, particularly social housing, and all public buildings. Each of these will require tens of billions in investment. There is a massive requirement in housing that requires tens of billions in investment. In agriculture, the key parameter in the context of climate is increasing incomes. Nobody is going to disagree that we need a whole generation of young farmers, foresters and wildlife managers and they have to be paid well. There will be funding from the Common Agricultural Policy and carbon taxation, namely, the effective hypothecation we have introduced in respect of using some that funding for land use. There will be further Exchequer funding for forestry and other initiatives. I refer to the €150 million that was allocated to bog rehabilitation as an example in this regard

The scale of the change we need to make and the scale of the investment we require, particularly in the context of young people in farming, land use, forestry and so on, are appropriate. It is not an opt-out. It will take a period to develop the detailed, scientific analysis to know when exactly we need to do a specific rewetting of grasslands or develop a specific amount of carbon storage, and how we are going to pay for that. We need mechanisms for paying. People will come up with a wide range of options but, as I have said, what I want to see is options in regard to how we can get money into the rural economy and a new generation of foresters, farmers and wildlife workers.