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

It is important that Ms Buckley give us information on the different sectoral profiles. That will be the key to identifying further measures.

Mr. McGrane raised a valid point about taking a longer term view of business development. I am among the optimists about rural Ireland. It can build on the infrastructure and practices of the future much more effectively than it can on the familiar infrastructure of the present. I refer in particular to the move from fossil fuel dependence, which remains high, to renewables, which are much more distributed and present better opportunities. There are moves to introduce broadband. Others are plugging what they have done, so I will say that the broadband move was the right decision. We made it in the face of opposition from the most senior public servant in the country, but it was right to bring fibre to the home throughout Ireland. This move can build remote working, remote diagnosis and remote delivery as a pattern.

It will be very good for rural Ireland. The fact that the circular economy emphasises better use of materials, less dependence on plastic, more repair and more reuse is a good news story I welcome.

As a country, we need to take a more positive view of these new opportunities that are emerging and of infrastructure that we will become used to. By 2030, we will have halved fossil fuel dependency. We will have complete broadband roll-out. Very soon, we will be in a position to think differently about policy. I welcome the challenge for us in engaging in that type of discussion. We just take an ad hoc reaction to what is happening today without looking over the next hill. The witnesses mentioned the latte levy and their resistance to it, but we cannot go on with people discarding single-use cups. It is just not compatible in the long term with where we are trying to get to. I acknowledge that these things are irritants and that they result in costs in the short term. We need to take a longer term position in order that we can identify the strands we need to accelerate. Maybe we will have to grin and bear it when it comes to some of the things we do not like because it is part of the bigger picture. Since there was an opportunity for rant, I am having one.