Mr. Eoin Moran:

I thank Deputy Sherlock. That was an excellent question.

When one works in Met Éireann, one of the key elements is to understand where the line is drawn. This is an issue when one is forecasting the weather. Our job is - this is the language we use - to support impact based decision-making. We are providing weather forecasts but it is to support the Deputy's decision-making, the public's decision-making, the decision-makers' decision-making. We do not just issue a forecast and walk away from it. It is important to understand what decisions a person makes, what thresholds affect him or her regarding weather, and to take those into consideration when we parcel the information and form our messages. How we interact with the audience is then flavoured by our understanding of how one makes one's decisions.

The same approach applies to climate change. We are supporting impact based decision-making on climate change and that involves understanding at a community level, at an individual level and at a societal level what the thresholds are, what will affect one's planning and what affects one's decision-making, and then packaging the information in a manner that meets the person's requirements. Some of those packages must be specialised. Some of them and this scientific information need to be transposed, as the Deputy stated quite rightly, into plain language. I quote words that have been used here today - "into the vernacular". It needs to be part of everyday life. This is important. This is part of our role as scientists to be able to provide an explanation in the language that everybody uses.

I am sorry if the Deputy detected reticence but the key point is us struggling to try to explain what we do. Part of the purpose of our statement is to explain clearly what we do. We provide climate information conscious of what that information is to be used for. We have to maximise the impact and the usefulness of that information. It is a considerable asset but we do not tell the recipient what to do with it. As scientists, we should not cross that line. That is an important line that should not be crossed but we should inform ourselves as to what impact the weather or climate will have on the recipient.

Deputy Sherlock raised the issue of attribution. In terms of plain language, I agree "attribution" is not a great word and we will work on that. However, in terms of the expectations that have arisen regarding attribution, part of what we will be doing is explaining yet again that the attribution is not a cure all. It is a valuable source of information but the way it is communicated and the understanding of that information is complex in itself also.