Ms Cliona Sharkey:

I thank the Senator for the specific question and I thank the committee for inviting us to the meeting to share these ideas. Trócaire is engaged on this issue because we are deeply concerned about the current impacts on the people with whom we are working. We can see that people are struggling with today's level of warming and we know that will increase over the coming years. We are deeply concerned about the prospects for them if we fail to deliver on the temperature limits set out in the Paris Agreement. That is the reason we are here. We are doing what we can to provide a humanitarian response to support people to develop their resilience, but there is a point beyond which they cannot adapt and survive. We must avoid reaching that point.

As Mr. Oisín Coghlan said, and as the ESRI said last week, there will be disruption. There is no way to get away from the disruption in all sectors of society, but the impact of inadequate or delayed action will be even more disruptive. We believe it is important to have these processes so everybody's views are heard and to ensure the actions and outcomes are fair and equitable.

As regards the outcomes from this committee in terms of the societal vision and transformation we need, the message that comes from it will be incredibly important. We hope to see a clear, consistently communicated cross-party message that climate action at the level needed to realistically deliver on the Paris Agreement is in the overwhelming public interest. It is essential if we are to have a habitable planet on which to pursue all our other social goals. This committee can play an important part in making it clear to the public and private sectors, the media, investors and everybody else that there is a firm consensus that all parties and elected representatives are resolutely committed to this. The outcome of this committee must be the starting point of that clear, consistent and explicitly cross-party communication. It is up to the committee to decide on the specifics across the various sectors but there must be resolute, cross-party commitment to meeting them.

To return to Mr. Coghlan's original intervention in respect of the overarching framework, the five-year carbon budgets under which we agree to act across the various sectors are a clear starting point to ensure we plan together.