Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 30 Nov 2000

Vol. 527 No. 2

Written Answers. - Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

Joe Higgins

Question:

68 Mr. Higgins (Dublin West) asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if, in view of the recent COP6 controversy over using the planting of forestry as a partial alternative to controlling the production of greenhouse gases, he will explain his statements that each hectare of Irish conifers sequesters 100 tonnes of carbon per year when the National Council for Forest Research and Development published works giving a figure of less than four tonnes per hectare per year, and recent research casts doubt on that figure. [28069/00]

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources (Mr. Fahey)

A report published last year by the National Council for Forest Research and Development, estimated average carbon sequestration rates in Irish forests to be 3.4 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year. On the basis that the average rotation of Irish conifer crops is 30 years, this is equivalent to approximately 100 tonnes per hectare over the lifetime of the forests.

I am not aware of any research that casts doubt on this data.