Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome An Taisce here today. It is an organisation which is ahead of the posse. We are all talking about carbon neutrality now but during the 20 years I was on a county council An Taisce had its eyes open and sent in different recommendations, particularly on planning.

Mr. Nix said that the way the Bill is framed we could end up with no scientist on the advisory body. What element of science does he think should take priority? The whole advisory body could not be made up of scientists, of whom there are so many, whether specialising in transport, heat, energy, metrology, the works. Does he have a preference for a type of overarching scientist, if there is such a thing, that would bring it all together and make the recommendations? His points about the economic benefits do sell but they cannot be included in the Bill. That is part of the education process - to bring the people along. The last speaker, from Scotland, showed the importance of that too. Which Department does Mr. Nix think should co-ordinate this - for example, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government or the Department of the Taoiseach?

There is a need for a climate scientist of international standing to be on the expert body. There is strong merit in the Department of the Taoiseach being the lead Department. As I stated in response to Deputy Murphy's question, there is an element of collective responsibility and it will be clear. If the situation becomes one of sanctions rather than support, that would be a fall-back situation in that censure of an individual Minister is a fallback. It is much better to have a structure of support for a Minister whose sector needs remedial action.