Mr. Axel Leahy:

I will not respond to each point because there has been much information that is brilliant. We could speak about this for hours and all the information has almost given me a headache. There is one point that has been mentioned a few times and it relates to consultation. It is one type of participation but this cannot just be about consultation. According to my research, many different authors and academics have stated that typical formal consultation does not work. Submissions may not be taken into account with a final decision and there is also the question of when consultation happens. Does it happen when all the options are closed and if so, how efficient can that be? There is the question of timing in participation.

I can give a brief example. Last year the national adaptation framework was published in January and it marked the first step in a process of building national adaptation for different sectors and local authorities. It was put out for consultation in September 2017 and there were 27 or 28 submissions. It was not a very high number. The submissions are available online and only four were submitted by private individuals not representing an organisation or State agency. This demonstrates a problem. Is the general public just not interested in those policies or is there a lack of communication in advertising those formal consultation processes? It is something we must be aware of and we probably need to go a step further than just consultation. It would amount to considerable responsibility for local authorities but this needs to happen at a local level.