Professor John FitzGerald:

I did not answer the Senator's question about international expertise at the table. I have had a range of expertise. When I was on the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation I was one of two external people from outside Northern Ireland. There was a very good person from England on it. I believe we made a significant contribution. When the new Central Bank Commission was set up in October 2010 after the disaster, it included somebody who was not Irish and who worked in the commission and in the IMF whose advice was very valuable to us and to the then Governor and deputy governors. He was only on it for one or two years. On our council we have had Professor Ottmar Edenhofer, who is one of the leading environmental policy experts. In Germany, he spent a great deal of time advising Chancellor Merkel and the current German Government. Having his insights has influenced, for example, the carbon floor and what is done there. He influenced me and the council. In fact, a very good lecture which he gave at the International Energy Agency, IEA, last month is available on its website. It is very important in terms of understanding the EU legislation and the political economy. I found it valuable on three different boards or advisory bodies to have an outsider who brings a different point of view and different expertise. That is my experience.

In terms of Departments that do not perform, it is up to the Government to deal with that. The co-ordination in the Department of the Taoiseach, and the committee might have the person who is responsible for that giving evidence, may make a difference. The Department of Finance has a great deal of clout, so when it says to another Department that it is cross and wants it to do something, that Department listens. When the Department responsible for climate says it to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine or the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, those Departments are much less likely to listen. That has been something of an issue until now. Now there is, first, the involvement at the top of the Government and, second, the Department of the Taoiseach's co-ordinating role, which brings failures to the attention of the Taoiseach. Those internal mechanisms and the climate action plan, the governance there and the reporting, were a major step forward. In the future it is going to be far more obvious where there are failings than was the case in the past.