Professor Brian Ó Gallachóir:

Any question is fair but what is within our remit to answer might be different. I will not comment on the specific greater Dublin area proposal because it goes beyond the remit of what we were asked to do in terms of arriving at the proposed carbon budgets. The level of ambition the Chair mentioned reflects the challenge. Some of the earlier points that came up in discussion go beyond the remit and go to the next stage of what happens next. The carbon budgets need to be approved, the sectoral emissions ceilings need to be developed and approved and there needs to be a policy roll-out that can enable delivery of this. Our focus was on the carbon budgets. There are a lot of examples of policies that are implemented and developed that indicate the penny has not dropped. With regard to the role of the advisory council on aspects such as this, I am not in a position to answer. I do not know whether Ms Donnelly or other members of the council would be interested in answering that question.