Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 38: To ask the Minister for Transport the level of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector; if the level of transport emissions have been underestimated by up to 12%; the additional measures he will introduce to combat rising transport emissions; the estimate of the impact of the recession on C02 levels for 2008 and 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32524/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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The production of reliable estimates of CO2 emissions from transport is a matter for the Environmental Protection Agency. The latest such data available to my Department (published on 16 September 2008) relate to 2006, when greenhouse gas emissions from transport were reported to be 13.71 Megatonnes CO2 equivalent, compared to 13.04 Megatonnes CO2 in the previous year.

I assume that the reference in the question to an underestimation of 12% in transport emissions arises from advance media reportage of the EPA report on Ireland's National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Projections to 2020, which was published on 25 September 2008. In fact, what that Report states in relation to transport emissions is that, depending on the scenario employed, such emissions would increase by between 12% and 23% over the period 2006 to 2020. For me, this simply underlines, and possibly even understates, the types of challenge faced by Ireland and which I fully accepted and laid out in the Sustainable Travel and Transportation Consultation Document which I published in February 2008.

Insofar as the likely effects of the current economic situation on transport emission levels in 2008 and 2009 are concerned, it is not possible, at this stage, to make such predictions with any degree of accuracy. In addressing the change in personal behaviour necessary to achieve reductions in transport emissions, it is more important to focus on the medium to long term. The medium term forecasts indicate a growing population with modest economic growth and this points to a growth in emissions which could be as high as 50% above 2005 levels. Therefore, it remains essential, in my view, to progress measures on sustainable transport and emissions abatement in the short, the medium and the long term.