Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That answers my question of how we ensure that this is a second generation piece of legislation and that we have learned things. I think the witnesses will indicate some of the issues that will address that in writing. I appreciate that.

I was interested in some key points that have been raised. I refer to the relative weakness of balance between Government and Legislature here, except the ultimate accountability when it moves away from the Government and becomes the State. It seems there is a lot of governmental or ministerial discretion in the Bill. It is about how we can make the Bill more robust so that the Legislature can hold the Government to account.

Dr. Muinzer spoke of the importance of interim targets in the Scottish legislation. How important are the 2020 target of a 56% reduction and the 2030 target of 73% reduction, recognising they can be flexibly moved to be more ambitious, in providing guidance so that we can correct course if we are not reaching these? How important is it to have them in the legislation? Can we get something in writing on how the just transition was incorporated? The sustainable development goals, STGs, are also explicitly mentioned in the Scottish Act. The just transition and STGs are particularly relevant for those sectoral plans and targets. It strikes me that some of the things that are in the long list would be very usefully applied in the sectoral plans.

There was a question on litigation and how vague language can lead to more litigation. Can it also lead to litigation that can slow progress towards the goals if we have competing interests in that section?