Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the officials. I have a couple of questions on a broader level. Perhaps Mr. Maughan or Mr. Regan will outline the timeline for negotiations, where we are in that process and where this meeting sits in terms of the overall adoption of this. I appreciate we are, as Mr. Maughan said, at an early stage. I also have a question on the relationship of this proposal and suite of measures to the recently-adopted climate Bill here. The officials were saying they are completely separate but obviously there are implications for the climate Bill and I understand some road transport measures may now be monitored at a more European level. What are the implications of that for our own targets in the climate Bill? Is there a perfect alignment there? Perhaps it is not a matter for the officials but on the relationship between the EU's 55% by 2030 target and Ireland's commitment to 51% by 2030, I am aware there are different baselines but how do they compare?

Senator Boylan raised the quality of information that we do or do not have on that allocation key and matters of demographics, fuel poverty, rurality and deprivation. That is something we must improve on and address.

What are the implications for the carbon tax, from the officials' own perspective? Is it the case that a number of pieces subject to the carbon tax will not now be part of that? There is then the question of the future of the tax itself. What is the officials' sense of the options there for Government to continue with it in relation to other areas, to phase it out, reduce it or change the approach to it? What is their sense of how Governments will be considering it given in future it will not be as applicable to these areas as it might have been in the past?