Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree. My recollection of that programme for Government commitment is that it is climate finance doubling within the ODA budget, not taking from other areas of overseas assistance, be it fighting hunger, education or the other range of initiatives we do. That is why I mention our Department and the Departments of Finance and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is not just coming from the Department of Foreign Affairs budget. It needs to come from a variety of sources and cannot be at the expense of other ODA projects. It has to be new and additional.

On civil society negotiations, as I said in my opening contribution, this is the largest delegation we have sent to COP. I do not know the exact number but it is something like 30 people going under accreditation of the State, including NGOs, academics, young campaigners, officials and members of this committee. That is probably because of our proximity to Glasgow. It makes sense. It is also a reflection of the real interest. We are keen to get as much participation as possible by civil society and NGOs in the process. We will not restrict that. How exactly access to negotiations is done will be managed by the UNFCCC but my recommendation would be to follow through on the transparency ambition in this COP and make sure it is transparent to everyone as to what is happening.