Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the insights we have received from various contributors. I certainly do not envy any Minister listening to this. The portrayal of the climate advisory council as wimps would not be very widely held by voters, on whom all of us in this room depend. It struck a chord with me that the Climate Change Advisory Council is putting forward something that is legally binding on Ministers and is the second-most ambitious target in the world. It certainly suggests we are stretching what we can achieve.

As I understand it, Professor McMullin is talking about an approximately 20% lower budget and Professor Anderson speaks about a budget that is 36% to 75% lower than what the climate advisory council has advocated. That is a pretty aggressive change. Both the Climate Change Advisory Council and the witnesses are presenting politicians with a task that, in Professor McMullin's words, is thought to be impossible. Professor Anderson is saying we should assume away any political constraints. Is that approach not a bit of a cop-out for people who are advising us as politicians on how to go about this? We do not have an unfettered capacity to introduce changes or rationing as it was described. One must be conscious of the reaction of the gilets jaunesto much more modest proposals. Even governments with extraordinary powers that may not be given to governments like ours are the laggards in signing up to a Paris Agreement context.

We must try to work on the climate advisory council's proposals and the framework it has given us rather than seeking to throw it out. We should work to help Ministers to achieve these and get us on this path. That is instead of prolonging the process by saying something is not adequate and we should wait longer for a credible approach. I worry about that. Like Professor Sweeney, I am old and in a hurry. I believe the Climate Change Advisory Council is giving us the best shot at making real inroads into the change.

How credible is it for a small, open, trading economy like our own to do what Professor McMullin is saying in having top-down rationing of fossil fuel to every enterprise we are seeking to operate and in every home that is looking to carve out a future? That is just not practical politics and we need to see eminent scientists like those before us finding some middle ground with people like us who are trying to get momentum going.