THE ECONOMIC AND DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPACTS OF AN INCREASED CARBON TAX WITH DIFFERENT REVENUE RECYCLING SCHEMES. ESRI RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 95 OCTOBER 2019

The recent all Government Climate Action Plan proposes an increase in the Irish carbon tax along a trajectory which reaches C80 by 2030. In line with this, this study investigates the economic, household level and environmental impacts of increasing the current carbon tax in Ireland from C20 per tonne of CO2 to C30 in 2020, further increasing it by C5 annually, thus reaching C80 (in nominal terms) by 2030. In our analysis, we examine not only the impacts of the increase in carbon tax alone, but also the impacts of how the carbon tax revenue is used, i.e. recycled. Our analysis shows that increasing the carbon tax will help Ireland reduce its emissions somewhat, but more initiatives are needed to reach the EU targets. Furthermore, an increase in the carbon tax will have limited impacts on GDP. The choice of how to use the revenues from the increased carbon tax will have significant implications for both macroeconomic impacts and household distributional impacts. Depending on the policy goal, the appropriate recycling scheme can reduce GDP impacts, decrease government debt, limit inflation or decrease inequality across households types

THE IMPACTS OF REMOVING FOSSIL FUEL SUBSIDIES AND INCREASING CARBON TAX IN IRELAND. RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 98 December 2019

A subsidy is classified as potentially environmentally damaging if it is likely to incentivise behaviour that could be damaging to the environment irrespective of its importance for other policy purposes. Examples of such subsidies include providing fossil fuels (including diesel, kerosene, fuel oil, and peat) at lower prices to certain industries and providing fuel allowances to households to alleviate fuel poverty. While some publicly-funded supports can have important social and economic purposes, they can have a negative impact on the environment. While the main approach in Ireland to address this has been to use different excise duties, Ireland also introduced a carbon tax in 2010. The carbon tax is one of the primary fiscal policy tools used in several countries to reduce human-induced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For the first time after the equalisation of its level on all fossil fuels in 2014, the Irish government increased the carbon tax from C20 per tonne of CO2 to C26 in 2020. It is expected that the total carbon tax revenues will increase by C100 million in 2020, compared to 2019. Notwithstanding this, the total budgetary cost of these fossil fuel subsidies, excluding the agriculturerelated ones, was around C2.44 billion in 2014, whereas the government’s total carbon tax collection was C390.9 million. In other words, the monetary value of environmentally damaging subsidies was over six times higher than carbon tax revenues. In 2017, the same ratio was slightly higher, since the total value of subsidies increased by 11.85%, whereas the growth rate of total carbon tax revenues was only 7.7%. This report analyses the economic and environmental impacts of the removal of eight different fossil fuel subsidies in Ireland by using the Ireland Economy-Energy-Environment (I3E) model. In addition, a separate set of scenarios in which the removal of each subsidy is accompanied by a gradual increase in the level of the carbon tax are run to quantify the combined effects of these policy instruments

TRANSITIONING TO A LOW-CARBON IRISH ECONOMY: AN ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL LABOUR IMPACTS. RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 100 December 2019

Ireland has legally binding emissions reduction targets for 2020 and 2030. To achieve these targets and to become a low-carbon economy, the government uses carbon taxation as one of the primary policy tools. In addition, ceasing of peat and coal, which are the most polluting energy commodities from electricity production, is planned. However, given the concentration of specific production sectors in specific regions, there is a concern that the labour impacts for certain regions/counties will be high, compared to others. This report explores the projected county-level variation in labour demand impacts for 2030, following an increase in the carbon tax and removal of coal and peat in electricity production. More specifically, the electricity production sector will gradually phase out coal and peat from the production process, their usages will be terminated in 2026 and 2029, respectively, and the carbon tax will increase C6 annually starting from 2020 and reach C80 in 2029 per tonne CO2-eq. We combine the labour demand output from the Ireland Environment, Energy and Economy (I3E) computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, with regional employment statistics to highlight sectoral and county-level variation. Firstly, we assess the sectoral labour demand impacts, and these sectoral results are then “shared out” to evaluate labour demand impacts for each county

Application of data envelopment analysis to measure technical efficiency on a sample of Irish dairy farms

peer-reviewedThe aim of this study was to determine the levels of technical efficiency on a sample of Irish dairy farms utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and to identify key management and production factors that differ between producers indentified as efficient and inefficient. DEA was used in this study to generate technical efficiency scores under assumptions of both constant returns to scale (CRS) and variable returns to scale (VRS). The average technical efficiency score was 0.785 under CRS and 0.833 under VRS. Key production characteristics of efficient and inefficient producers were compared using an analysis of variance. More technically efficient producers used less input per unit of output, had higher production per cow and per hectare and had a longer grazing season, a higher milk quality standard, were more likely to have participated in milk recording and had greater land quality compared to the inefficient producers

Semiconductor optical amplifiers in avionics

RSOAs have been demonstrated to operate within a WDM PON architectures over a >;60nm wavelength range with large path loss capabilities. Two RSOAs enable contiguous operation over the S, C and L bands; results indicate clearly that WDM architectures suitable for avionics with a PLC of >;25dB are possible with only two devices. Performance at extended temperature ranges will be reported later in detai

Measurement of the Effect of Policy Changes on Volatility in Dairy Markets1

Volatility in dairy commodity markets has become a major concern for many in the dairy supply chain and is likely to remain so in the future. Changes to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) over the past decade have more closely aligned EU and World prices and their associated volatilities. The aim of this paper is to measure volatility at farm level in Ireland over time, identify possible reasons for the increased volatility and identify ways of reducing volatility. Statistical measures such as coefficient of variation (CV) and annualised standard deviation are used to provide measures of past volatility and its evolution over time. Family Farm Income (FFI) data, input data and farm gate milk prices are used to highlight historical farm level volatility. As farm level prices should be based on dairy commodity returns, the links between these prices and the farm gate prices are explored. Monthly wholesale prices for Skim Milk Powder (SMP), whole milk powder (WMP), and butter between January 1997 and March 2012 are used for this analysis. The time period is divided into two sub periods to quantify changes in volatility pre and post the Luxembourg Agreement. The results highlight that both commodity price and farm gate volatility has increased dramatically post 2007. Volatility will become a more inherent part of the dairy industry as policy changes cause prices to become further aligned with world prices. The findings of this research highlight that risk management strategies are desirable for the long term success of the dairy industry

Exploring the use of a modified high-temperature, short-time continuous heat exchanger with extended holding time (HTST-EHT) for thermal inactivation of trypsin following selective enzymatic hydrolysis of the ß- lactoglobulin fraction in whey protein isolate

peer-reviewedTryptic hydrolysis of whey protein isolate under specific incubation conditions including a relatively high enzyme:substrate (E:S) ratio of 1:10 is known to preferentially hydrolyse ß-lactoglobulin (ß-LG), while retaining the other major whey protein fraction, i.e., x-lactalbumin(x-LA) mainly intact. An objective of the present work was to explore the e ects of reducing E:S (1:10 1:30, 1:50, 1:100) on the selective hydrolysis of ß-LG by trypsin at pH 8.5 and 25 °C in a 5% (w/v) WPI solution during incubation periods ranging from 1 to 7 h. In addition, the use of a pilot-scale continuous high-temperature, short-time (HTST) heat exchanger with an extended holding time (EHT) of 5 min as a means of inactivating trypsin to terminate hydrolysis was compared with laboratory-based acidification to <pH 3 by the addition of HCl, and batch sample heating in a water bath at 85 °C. An E:S of 1:10 resulted in 100% and 30% of ßLG and x-LA hydrolysis, respectively, after 3 h, while an E:S reduction to 1:30 and 1:50 led >90% ß-LG hydrolysis after respective incubation periods of 4 and 6 h, with <5% hydrolysis of x-LA in the case of 1:50. Continuous HTST-EHT treatment was shown to be an e ective inactivation process allowing for the maintenance of substrate selectivity. However, HTST-EHT heating resulted in protein aggregation, which negatively impacts the downstream recovery of intact -LA. An optimum E:S was determined to be 1:50, with an incubation time ranging from 3 h to 7 h leading to 90% ß-LG hydrolysis and minimal degradation of x-LA. Alternative batch heating by means of a water bath to inactivate trypsin caused considerable digestion of x-LA, while acidification to <pH 3.0 restricted subsequent functional applications of the protein

Carbapenemase gene <i>bla</i>_OXA-48 detected at six freshwater sites in Northern Ireland discharging onto identified bathing locations

Faecal contamination of surface waters has the potential to spread not only pathogenic organisms but also antimicrobial resistant organisms. During the bathing season of 2021, weekly water samples, from six selected coastal bathing locations (n = 93) and their freshwater tributaries (n = 93), in Northern Ireland (UK), were examined for concentrations of faecal indicator bacteria Escherichia coli and intestinal enterococci. Microbial source tracking involved detection of genetic markers from the genus Bacteroides using PCR assays for the general AllBac marker, the human HF8 marker and the ruminant BacR marker for the detection of human, and ruminant sources of faecal contamination. The presence of beta-lactamase genes blaOXA-48, blaKPC, and blaNDM-1 was determined using PCR assays for the investigation of antimicrobial resistance genes that are responsible for lack of efficacy in major broad-spectrum antibiotics. The beta-lactamase gene blaOXA-48 was found in freshwater tributary samples at all six locations. blaOXA-48 was detected in 83% of samples that tested positive for the human marker and 69% of samples that tested positive for the ruminant marker over all six locations. This study suggests a risk of human exposure to antimicrobial resistant bacteria where bathing waters receive at least episodically substantial transfers from such tributaries