Professor Frank Convery:

I thank the Deputy for the clarification, which I appreciate.

With regard to agriculture and innovation, according to the evidence in UCD, much of the reduction can be achieved by being more efficient and through farmers saving money on their inputs and in how they manage manure and the entire farm system.

We have quite a bit of evidence to support this proposition. Just as we reduced fertiliser usage in agriculture dramatically, improved water quality and saved farmers money, there is a pay-off. The Glanbia aspect is important because it covers 3,500 farmers and is meticulously logging its baseline. It could tell its farmers to save money in this way, but it would not be enough on its own. Innovation is a factor and we must work differently - for example, through the technology and practice used in spreading fertiliser. It will not be simple, but there are opportunities. It would be a combination of helping farmers to save themselves money, while saving the environment in terms of the climate, water quality and biodiversity. An innovation strategy to take us the rest of the way is critical.

I would push this obligation before discussing trade-offs and asking the transport or energy sector to do more. According to our evidence, the largest pay-off would be in energy efficiency. Given current technologies and practice, there could be a trade-off and there would be a greater pay-off on the energy efficiency side. This might create some headroom for agriculture. However, we have not started to address the challenge in agriculture seriously. My strong intuition is that, if we approach the matter in the ways emerging, we will be pleasantly surprised.

Regarding the media and education, I urge members to get to know every green school in their constituencies. Many already do this and there is a map. If I were them, I would speak with children to get a grassroots sense of what was happening. It is exciting, as Ireland is a leader in educating the new generation. It would benefit the schools a great deal if they had that political support. Engaging with children on this legislation could be useful. Some of this work would drag the media along. There is nothing like a bunch of young kids who are enthusiastic, engaged, irreverent and so on to stir the pot and get serious attention. ECO-UNESCO also does work in this regard. There is an infrastructure in place, but we are not using it enough. For example, it is not referenced in the legislation and there is no bridge to this activity.

I do not know how to get the media's attention. The evidence is that the media will always respond to a crisis. As soon as there is a flood, everyone will pay attention. Sometimes, people will draw spurious conclusions about climate change and what is happening. For example, there is not necessarily a correlation between our heatwave and climate change, but it is consistent with what we are observing globally. As members probably know, carbon concentrations in the atmosphere scarily exceeded 400 parts per million. This is the first time that level has been exceeded in human existence. We could seize on events such as this.

If I may engage in a bit of cheap huckstering, we will hold a large event for The Gathering in UCD in the middle of November. We expect to bring 150 members of the diaspora back, people who are working abroad and interested in this agenda. We hope our event will create a buzz. They will find out about the exciting activities under way in Ireland and we will find out about what they are up to.

The most important aspect is the grassroots. Kids do not read the newspapers or care about the latest press releases. They are the real substance of what we are about. Giving them a great deal of attention and time locally and nationally is important. We should also seize on events and turn them into stories that relate to people's lives, but politicians are far better than I am at media work.