Mr. Robert Watt:

We have an open mind on the governance structure and I set out in my opening remarks some possible ideas. Having a Department responsible for climate action is important but I would be interested to hear from the political side what the view is. It is a good change to bring together within one Department. Of course, that Department does not have responsibility for agriculture, transport, housing stock and other issues we are talking about. It is about a combination of making that work effectively. There are different options in the UK, including centrally-mandated targets from the Prime Minister's office. Other countries have that too. There might be a combination of a climate Department plus more centrally-mandated targets from central Government. The UK allocates sectoral targets to different sectors and Ministers and their departments are responsible for delivering them. There is merit in looking at all of those options and we have an open mind in doing so. While I do not know what the best approach is, we have an open mind about the structures we have and need to be honest about whether they are working and whether they can deliver on a challenge of this scale. Ultimately, it is a political question of the interaction between Departments. That is a matter for the Taoiseach.

I have already spoken about the appraisal. We published the revised appraisal of public expenditure setting out the revised price of carbon, increasing that price into the future compared to where we are. That will feed into the final issue raised on assessing priorities and strategic investments. An appropriate carbon price will ensure Departments face the right incentives and costs when they evaluate a variety of potential projects. A lot of work has to be done to look at the best options for the future. A more realistic price of carbon will help us get to the right decisions. The two questions are interlinked. It is about having that code and adopting it, which we hope to do in the new year, and then ensuring it is reflected in decisions taken across Government. A whole variety of issues relates to that.