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

I thank our witnesses for coming in. This is fascinating stuff. The psychology of messaging is so important but it is not taken on board by a lot of people. If we reflect on the title of today's discussion, which refers to the role of media and communications, it is the case that the media has a responsibility to report information objectively. I will take one example from today, because it is topical and was covered in both newspapers and on radio, namely, the ESRI research detailed on the front page of The Irish Times. The headline belies this conversation and highlights the difficulty we have. I am not for one moment blaming the author or the newspaper but the automatic default is to focus on the big ticket item that gets the attention of the reader rather than on the underlying message, which is far more important. The headline tells us that under-24s favour a domestic flight ban and car-free zones but the body of research that was done is far more important than that headline suggests. Therein lies the problem that we as policymakers and legislators must focus on in the future.

Dr. Robbin's reference to a publicly-funded journalistic focus on climate change is not so much the elephant in the room but the thing that we really need to promote. There is an inherent fear, right across the board, that permeates right down to very small issues like car-free streets, for instance. There was huge opposition to this when it was trialled in my own home town of Malahide but the outcome was really positive. It changed behaviours almost instantly. However, it has negative connotations in certain parts of the community because of the inconvenience it causes, notwithstanding the massive environmental and safety benefits.