Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I confirm that I am in Leinster House. I thank our witnesses for coming before the committee. A major opportunity has been presented to the committee and the witnesses, who have been kind enough to come before us, in the context of the challenge in the climate action targets that have been set. There are opportunities to close gaps in society when it comes to fairness. We spent some time talking about just transition. Over the course of the past two days, major challenges have been presented to the committee and society in respect of what it is we are trying to achieve collectively.

I do not have any explicit questions because, to be fair, the Chairman has asked the very questions I was going to ask regarding the position of the various stakeholders on the carbon budgets. I note the Environmental Pillar's very explicit position on it, for which I thank its representatives. The only remark I have to make is the diversity of views that have been presented to us is very welcome. It offers a magnifying glass on the level of the challenge that is before us in the coming decades. In the short term, it will be exceedingly difficult for us to hit the targets set by the Climate Change Advisory Council. That being said, no sector can remain doing what it is doing at present. Each and every sector has to change. If we do not, we simply defer the inevitable and that inevitability is the climate will change dramatically, making it unviable for certain industries to continue operating, in the first instance.

To achieve our targets, it is very clear to me that we have to step up our role in the Oireachtas and in the Government to fund those changes.

We have to step up our role in the Oireachtas and as governments to fund those changes, because without the adequate funding for certain sectors-----