Professor John FitzGerald:

It is essential to have interim targets. We cannot go along for 30 years and then find we have done a botched job and have not got there. That is what carbon budgets are for, whether or not they take the form of legislation enacted by the Oireachtas. That will set every five years a target so we will know if we are meeting the target and if we are failing, so interim targets are important. Given the EU's position and the focus in this regard, we need to define a 2030 target as well. That will then be enshrined in the carbon budgets. The carbon budgets will be consistent with that. Carbon budgets basically provide the interim targets. In forming those targets, however, we need the Oireachtas to say what the interim target is for 2030. Then, within that, we can define what the targets should be for 2025, but the 2030 and 2050 targets have to come from the Oireachtas and must be clear.