Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 657: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the level of greenhouse gas emissions in Ireland from power generation, road transport, air travel, industry, buildings, households and other sources for each year since 1997 to date in 2007; and if he will provide the information in tabular readable form. [31015/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for the preparation of annual inventories of greenhouse gas emissions to meet the reporting requirements of both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Union. The Agency publishes a National Inventory Report each year on foot of these requirements.

The most recent report published by the Agency, in respect of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005, indicates that total emissions of greenhouse gases in Ireland in 2005 were 69.95 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Further information is available on the website of the EPA at www.epa.ie.

The National Inventory Report sets out emissions based on source categories in line with reporting guidelines adopted by the UNFCCC, which differ from the source categories identified in the question. However, based on EPA data, information on emissions for the years in question, set out according to the sectors identified in the National Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012, is available and is set out in the following table.

It should be noted that these data represent gross emissions and do not include the countervailing sequestration effects of forestry. Similarly, the data for the transport sector do not include emissions from international aviation or marine bunker fuels as emissions from these sources are not included in the scope of the Kyoto Protocol.