Mr. Ian Talbot:

I thank the Deputy for his question. On the engagement so far, it is possible that we have not been honest enough collectively in respect of how big the challenge is. People are always afraid of change. There are significant changes afoot here to achieve our targets, no matter what sector we are in. I am not sure of the extent to which the public are aware of the scale. There is increasing acceptance among the public of the need for change but there may be a sense in too many places that it is all fine, the change will not affect them and that it is other people who will have to change. We need more engagement with people and more openness and honesty across the entire sector in respect of what these targets will actually mean, how fundamental these changes will be and how measures such as the town centre first initiatives, public transport initiatives and so on are vitally important. We need to do everything we can to get these initiatives through the planning system, within reason, as efficiently and effectively as possible. We do not have ten years to wait to get things over the line. We need to get this done rapidly.

That leads on to the Deputy's question in respect of opportunity. There are opportunities. There are plenty of businesses that are really looking forward to the opportunity for innovation, for example. There is great opportunity for innovation and for Irish companies to leverage the EU Green Deal, for example, and start drawing down funds from that to make progress. There are great opportunities in terms of employment potential and there is the opportunity for us to generate energy that can be shipped to other parts of the EU and so on. There are great opportunities here but they need to be kick-started with investment and making sure we can get things done through the planning and legislative processes. For example, I refer to the Maritime Area Planning Bill, which may now be an Act. It is great to see it but it has been in the hopper for 15 years. We do not have 15 years any more.