The National Co 2 Abatement Strategy, which I have recently published and placed in the Oireachtas Library, is directed at the principal man made emissions implicated in climate change. It includes a range of measures in the areas of energy conservation, fuel switching, transport, waste management and afforestation designed to limit the levels of carbon in the atmosphere and to improve the energy efficiency of the Irish economy. The strategy also embodies significant research measures in the areas of energy efficiency and conservation, renewable energy, afforestation and coastal erosion.
As regard acid rain emissions, the Environmental Research Unit and the Meterological Office monitor and report on Irish emissions and deposition for the purposes of the relevant monitoring programme of the Geneva Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution. In addition, the ERU carries out ongoing research and monitoring on the impacts of acidification, such as is reported in its publication Acid Sensitive Waters (1991) and Water Quality in Ireland (1992).
Air pollution policy in Ireland is generally based on strict control of sulphur and nitrogen dioxide emissions in line with relevant EC and other international requirements. Ireland has also recently signified its support for the principle of a Community carbon-energy tax provided certain specific national concerns can be met.