Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. I will follow up on a couple of points now that we have a bit of time and have heard the opening statements and initial responses to questions. One such point is around citizenship. I met the Dublin Chamber task force on sustainability last week. I am keen to look at what we can do in education to ensure people are fully informed about things like putting in submissions and planning, as well as the impact that has on both the wider community and on business. For instance, we know that cycling and walking in urban areas increase footfall, bring people into retail and support local businesses. Dublin Chamber has put out some helpful statistics on that.

However, that is not always reflected in the submissions that come in. Is there something that can be done in that regard in schools to ensure people are fully informed? There are cities, though I cannot name them off the top of my heard, where the vast majority, or between 80% and 90%, of people were against public realm space being developed but, once it was in place, 91% were in favour of it. That is a real challenge for us in the context of moving fast enough on the climate and biodiversity crisis.

It is also a real difficulty when it comes to sustainability in business, because businesses are trying to do two things. They are trying to appeal in some ways to their customers who are saying one thing but they know the green way is the way of the future for business. I would love any insight our guests may have on that and how we could build that into leaving certificate or the education system more generally.

A really interesting point was made in respect of working in a team. I cannot remember whether it was Mr. Donohoe or Mr. McDonnell who bought that whole issue up. Where are we seeing the downsides to people not having the skills to work in a team? Is there some way in which it is crystal clear when people leave school that they do not have those skills? Mr. McDonnell made a point in his opening statement in respect of the fact that, contrary to the narrative we hear, we are not a world leader when it comes to education. We may be just above average but when one considers Ireland in the global context and the kind of wealth the country has, one would probably expect us to be doing far more there. It would be a shame for the committee to come out with a report that continues that false narrative when we actually have an opportunity to be really creative and innovative about what we can do next.