Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. First, I thank all the witnesses for their work. The response from the public, from the media and, indeed, politicians, was positive overall, which goes to show how valued and respected the witnesses are as a council.

Sticking with the modelling for a minute, we are not experts in modelling but it seems that one of the challenges for policymakers is that it becomes a quite contested space once you get into policy and away from the science. That is the bit that we struggle with. The modelling, based on the technology that is available, is hugely important but is there a place there to do something? Dr. Styles spoke about this as an iterative process but, even at a closer level, to have some collaboration on an ongoing basis between policymakers and either those on the council or those in science generally to assist with policymaking seems to be the challenge that we face, not only on the cold hard science of how we get to a point through the technology that may be available. Policies might drive in two different directions. Can we model it to look at both directions and see which is the best outcome or which is most achievable?

The second point that I will raise is on health consequences. The reason I raise this is that the council speaks about it in the carbon budgets in its report even though it is not specifically listed but I think that this is because it has an economic consequence. I believe that this is something that could really drive change. If we are to look at what the consequences are for healthcare, that is something that can make people want to make the change because it directly impacts on them. If there is some more that the council has to give us, such as some of the costs around healthcare that the council has looked at in the report, that would be welcome.

Finally, there is a small reference to the circular economy in the agriculture section. I wonder if there are other opportunities or what the council sees the opportunities being for the circular economy because, as it will be aware, another large part of our work towards the end of last year was on the circular economy. The kind of regulations that we can put in place for companies, for instance, could drive change. If we have the scientific evidence to show that a circular economy can drive down emissions, that would be really helpful.