Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Would Ms Justice Laffoy also accept that there is an onus on all of us to demystify the language and to try to move from the academic to the practical? She rightly identified the advocacy groups and I believe that all of them are exceptionally well-meaning and have that capacity in their own way to break down the science and the academia of this topic. There is so much evolving and developing around the science of climate change that those who have a real interest in it often focus on the academic and scientific aspects and the macro effect. Unfortunately, from my vantage point, that is where citizens tend to glaze over and believe that it is for somebody else to worry about, and that when the time comes, they will be forced into it or will address it. There is enough of a body of evidence now, in real practical terms, to enable us to hammer it at every available opportunity. It is hard to say that each aspect of our weather pattern over the past year has been due to climatic change.

We can see the impact extreme weather patterns have on lifestyles, livelihoods and the economy. If we can highlight that in our work in addition to and supporting the decisions we have to take in order to try to ensure they are not features of every annual weather cycle, we would certainly have achieved something.