Mr. Robert Watt:

We have to tell Departments what the price is. That is what we are trying to do with the spending code. We are trying to say what the likely price is and remind Departments that they need to reflect it in their decision-making. If a project has a positive cost-benefit analysis based on a price of €30 a tonne in 2030, it is worth pursuing. However, the price might not be €30. Deputy Ryan might be wrong. If it transpires in 2030 that the price is €10, we might have done a lot of things that we would have been better off not doing. In such circumstances, we would have been better off buying compliance rather than taking expensive action. If the price goes the other way - perhaps to €50 - there will be a variety of other things we should have done which would have been expensive but would still have been cheaper than €50 a tonne. That is the policy choice.