Mr. Jonathan Church:

I will be brief. I thank the committee again for inviting me to participate in this meeting.

Senator Higgins made a good point about science. The CCC in the UK has just ensured it has the scientific capacity it needs in-house. It has also been very active at reaching out for extra expertise when needed. Often, it is possible for the CCC to take the target it has and focus not so much on the science in respect of what the environmental impact of those targets will be, but much more on how it will be possible to reach that target in a social and economic sense. I do not want to say too much about the methane question, but it is a more complex one. There may be a greater need for specific scientific expertise in a context where methane has a special role to play, as I think it does in Ireland.

I am afraid I do not have a great deal to add with regard to trade, except to say that the best protection against carbon leakage, which I know is picked up briefly in the Bill, is that so many other countries are pursuing similar laws. Everybody is moving in the same direction. Increasingly, trade deals are made with the environmental impact in mind. It is to be hoped that there is not too much of a threat when everybody is moving together. I do not have anything to add on the public bodies point. I thank the committee again, and I will hand over to Dr. Muinzer.