Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have a concern that criterion (e), on cost effectiveness, is included in those first four functions about deciding how much carbon budget we have to save the planet, reduce emissions and achieve the target of a temperature increase of less than 1.5°C. I wonder what Professor FitzGerald interprets cost effectiveness as because there are different meanings. Is it about what is most economically advantageous, or the life-cycle costing, or the lowest cost or the price quality? It is quite an ambiguous and wide term. Professor FitzGerald might comment on my suggestion that the cost-effectiveness criterion might be more effective deciding how we achieve our goals rather than how much we achieve, and what he interprets cost effectiveness as.

The professor mentioned Government policy. What areas did he mean? Is it only environmental Government policy that he envisages having regard to or are there other areas of Government policy? That question also relates to sectoral plans.

I might ask another question in my follow-up response.