John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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390. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the percentage of revenue received from the income gained from the auction of allowances the units which are used for emission’s trading (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41010/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Revenue generated from the auction of allowances within the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is divided between EU member states, mainly based on their overall ETS emissions as a proportion of total EU ETS emissions. Receipts to Ireland from these auctions have totalled €367.3 million between 2013 and 2018. Under the ETS Directive 2003/87/EC, at least 50% of the revenue generated from auctions should be used by member states to finance specific climate and energy programmes. The EU Monitoring Mechanism Regulation, EU/525/2013, requires each member state to report on their use of such revenues.

While Ireland does not, in line with Exchequer expenditure policy, formally ring-fence ETS auction revenues for specific purposes, amounts equivalent to 100% of such revenue (less ETS administration costs for the Environmental Protection Agency) in each year are attributed in EU reporting by Ireland to emission reduction activities in line with the purposes specified in the ETS Directive. This attribution does not imply that these revenues have been hypothecated for the specified purposes or that only those programmes constitute the total Exchequer expenditure for the purposes specified under the ETS Directive. Relevant Exchequer funded programmes which have been reported to date include energy efficiency, afforestation and school transport schemes.