Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 49: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding notification he has received from the Environmental Protection Agency indicating the amount of carbon emitted here for 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3923/09]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for compiling the national inventories of greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland and for reporting these to the European Union and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). These inventories are compiled on an annual basis using the good practice guidelines established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The results become available in preliminary form about 11 months after the end of a calendar year, and they are then finalised and submitted as required to the EU and UNFCCC over the following five months.

Total greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, the most recent year for which figures are available, were 69.205 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent which is almost 1% lower than the level of emissions in 2006. In relation to the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland's emissions in 2007 were 6.368 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent higher than the Kyoto limit as an annual average, while forest sinks (i.e. reductions) were 1.36 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent resulting in a "current" annual distance to target of 5.008 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

Preliminary greenhouse gas emissions data for 2008 are expected to become available from the Agency towards the end of 2009. Work is continuing across Government Departments on the development of measures to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions.