Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Professor FitzGerald. He commented that one of the frustrations for the Climate Change Advisory Council was in securing access to modelling data in order to get a full picture. He also noted that line Departments ought to participate more in the research that leads to the council's conclusions. I could not agree with him more on that. As a former Minister, I can say that one of the most frustrating things is the lack of understanding in some Departments of the scale of the challenges and the sort of changes needed in the sectors for which they are responsible. I will not single out any one sector. Does Professor FitzGerald see any way of embedding that thinking throughout the system? Making Ministers accountable for their individual budgets and putting the Minister for Climate Action and Communication Networks in the hot seat is one way of doing that. Does Professor FitzGerald have any suggestions as to how this type of thinking can be shared and embedded in institutions?