Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 797: To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources when he will publish the biofuels obligation; the position regarding biofuels; if he is satisfied that biofuels imported into Ireland are sustainable; the percentage of transport fuels in transport which are biofuels; the percentage of biofuels which are imported; the location from which they are imported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29605/09]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Programme for Government commits to the introduction of a Biofuel Obligation, which will underpin delivery of the national biofuel target and which will take full account of EU biofuels policy. My Department is currently finalising proposals for the necessary legislation, with a view to the introduction of the Obligation in 2010. The Biofuels Obligation will also integrate the EU Sustainability Criteria, which are currently being finalised. The objective is to ensure that all biofuels counted towards the national obligation are fully sustainable in line with EU legal requirements.

The EU sustainability criteria will be the first internationally agreed set of rules governing the origins of biofuels. The commodities from which biofuels are made, are internationally traded, which can make it difficult to determine their ultimate origin. Those companies participating in the Mineral Oil Tax Relief (MOTR) schemes are required to inform my Department as to the origin of the biofuels utilised there. The acknowledged difficulties in tracking biofuels back to origin underline the importance of an international sustainability scheme, such as that planned by the EU.

To date, the use of biofuels in Ireland has been incentivised under the MOTR schemes. Up to the end of 2008, a total of 40% of the biofuel available in Ireland under the MOTR Scheme II was imported from European Union Member States. On the basis of the provisional figures available for 2008 the market penetration rate for biofuels as a percentage of road transport fuels was approximately 1.6%, which is an increase from 0.6% in 2007.