Professor John Sweeney:

I thank Deputy Whitmore for her very constructive comments. In terms of nature-based solutions, we have to be very cautious about how we achieve them. We must not see the apparently simple solution of planting trees as a way out of our problems because we know that we are probably going to be cutting down more trees than planting them for the next decade or so which means our sequestration is quite limited. In addition, when one plants a new forest, it may take a number of years before the disturbance of the soil caused by planting and the respiration and CO² losses that have occurred are made up by sequestration. We must have a very careful and cautious accounting system in place. Equally, we must also ensure that we have, for example, afforestation that is going to achieve sequestration and that is not often the case if we cut down and burn a forest or burn the wood from a forest before it reaches a reasonable level of maturity. We are talking about carbon dioxide which lasts for 100 years in the atmosphere. If we are going to sequester, we need to ensure that the products that we produce have a longevity which actually balances the warming effect the gas achieves over that very long period. Therefore, we must be very cautious. We are going to have to look very closely at international accounting standards from the IPCC in order to ensure that we do not go down the road of maladaptation as a result of malsequestration.

In terms of voting on the council, I have the highest regard for the three institutions that are mentioned in the Bill as being on the Climate Change Advisory Council. However, I feel that their role should be advisory rather than as an integral part of the council with full voting rights. This is especially important as the council has a membership of 11 or 12 people so it represents a considerable block which could mitigate against the views of the nine independent members on the council. I would agree with Deputy Whitmore's point about gender balance. At the moment two of the director generals referred to out of the three are male and I would hope that the council would be better balanced from both a gender and a scientific perspective. We have seen some of the imbalances that have occurred in the current council. They are all excellent people but they tend to be much more economically inclined rather than having a strong scientific background. It is the desire of this Bill that this should be rebalanced.

Finally, in terms of the ranking of the Bill, at the moment it would be in the relegation zone of the league table but if we get this Bill right it would place Ireland among the leaders in terms of climate change litigation. That is why achieving that is such a crucial job. As it stands, it is not good but it has the potential to be very effective legislation if the modifications that have been suggested are incorporated.