Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hope I can put some of those concerns to rest. I see the process as iterative. If Oireachtas recommendations need to be developed, we will work with the committee to develop them where they can be shown to be cost-effective in a transition. It is important we choose to make the changes in the correct order, as we have taken great care to do. The only reason we were able to bring every Department with us to sign up to the targets we set is because we showed they were based on the least burdensome approach. We have been able to tell people that if they wish to have their obligation waived, they should know they are opting for a more expensive change to be made in some other sector. That approach has been important to bring everyone to the starting line. Even if there is something else we could do, as the Deputy suggested, we must ensure that it is done in the right order. There is no reluctance to bring forward legislation. From hard experience, however, as the Deputy will know as well as I, having legislation processed through the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, the committee and so on is slow. It will be challenging to meet the objectives.

We do, in fact, have a binding target. It runs until 2030 and penalties are attached. In the plan, we have set sectoral targets and Ministers will be accountable for achieving them. The legislation will slice the targets into five-year blocks and provide for more forensic analysis. Sectoral targets are already included in the plan.

The Deputy is worried we are not making sufficient effort in the period to 2030 but I have adopted what one might call a precautionary principle. I have not assumed a trajectory of high oil prices to pretend we do not need to make changes but rather that oil prices will stay low and, therefore, we have to plan for more structural change, not less. Moreover, I have not banked on the €18.8 million flexibility, where one can switch from earnings we would receive in the emissions trading system, ETS, sector to offset changes we ought to make in non-ETS sectors. It is a real, demanding target that outlines the detail of what changes need to be made to underpin it. There will be an obligation on Departments. In the coming weeks, there will be a delivery board within the Department of the Taoiseach overseeing the delivery of the 183 actions. We will not wait for a legislative underpinning to put in place that type of accountability. There will also be the Estimate. In any year where an obligation is put on the State, if we do not meet the target, it will not be shown in my Department, as is now the case, but in the relevant Department. It will be more closely attached, therefore, to the sector that falls short.