Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 179: To ask the Minister for Finance the carbon costings for each of the proposals of the National Development Plan 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3865/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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There is no requirement in place in relation to carbon costing individual investment proposals contained in the National Development Plan or elsewhere. I am informed by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government that the impact on greenhouse gas emissions of the policies and measures on which investment proposals contained in the National Development Plan are based will be calculated through regular revisions to Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions projections, which, from 2007, will be undertaken on a biennial basis by the Environmental Protection Agency. These projections will include assessments of the impact of relevant policies and measures which have been adopted by the Government or are already under implementation.

The latest projections of greenhouse gas emissions were completed in March 2006 and were prepared for the Government by external consultants, ICF Consulting and Byrne O Cleirigh. They are available to download from the website of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and local Government at www.environ.ie. The National Development Plan takes account of Ireland's commitment to limit emissions of greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol through, inter alia, the proposed quadrupling of investment in public transport and investment in sustainable energy.