Vol. 528 No. 1
66 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the steps he is taking to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the cement industry; the representations he received seeking to have this issue included in the recent Planning and Development Act, 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29433/00]
Chapter 3 – Cross-Sectoral Instruments – of the national climate change strategy sets out measures, which will be applicable to the cement industry, in relation to emissions trading and the taxation of greenhouse gas emissions. Chapter 7 – Industry, Commercial and Services Sector, in dealing with process substitution, sets out further specific measures relating to the industry. A copy of the strategy and the report of the consultation group on greenhouse gas emissions trading are in the Oireachtas Library.
My colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Harney, wrote to me in June 2000 suggesting that an amendment to the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992, should be included in the then Planning and Development Bill, 1999, which was about to be discussed on Report Stage in the Dáil. The amendment proposed was to introduce new controls on greenhouse gas emissions in the integrated pollution control licensing system. I indicated in my reply that it would be inappropriate to include such an important environmental amendment at that late stage in the planning Bill, as it would have delayed the passage of the Bill, and that I intended to address this issue in an integrated manner in the context of amendments to the Environmental Protection Agency Act, 1992. With regard to amendment of this Act, I refer to the reply to Question No. 248 of 25 October 2000. [23535/00]
Question No. 67 taken with Question No. 14.
