Mr. Conor Linehan:

I am not. Those relate to two different legal systems. The landfill targets are obligated by EU membership. We have subscribed to that legal regime and if we ignore or fail completely to achieve the targets, we are open to the potential imposition of penalties by the European Court of Justice. That is the way directives operate in the context of the relationship between the EU and the State. Climate change legislation is domestic legislation which we are negotiating internally and concerns the relationships between organs of the State. I do not agree that, of itself, enacted legislation provides the citizen with the right to go to court to ask why it is not being observed. One has to ask what the duty provided for is. If a domestic target is created, that does not of itself create an all-or-nothing duty.

Certainly, there is no breach of the duty as long as the Minister and the Government are using their best endeavours to try to achieve the target. For that reason, we have to look at how it is expressed. I suggest that a target, of itself, does not create the right to have it enforced if it is not reached. It is a "best endeavours" obligation.