Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their introductory statements.

I wish to take up the line of argument Deputy Cronin took in respect of media and advertising. What do the witnesses think of the embedment of the fossil fuel and related industries in media circles, that is, the extent to which media outlets are reliant on, for example, Ryanair, which is opening up new travel routes, or the sale of cars, whether Volvo or whatever other company? So many of those companies advertise their cars on the telly. You watch a "Prime Time" documentary or one on RTÉ or whatever other station about the impact of climate change in the worst affected areas - let us say Pakistan, where recently 30 million people were displaced and thousands lost their lives - and then, straight after that, there are ads for cars, new Ryanair routes opening up or whatever other form of corporate interest. It is a matter of the embedment of that industry in media outlets and media outlets' reliance on those companies' revenues coming in. Do the witnesses, as behavioural psychologists, think that has a major impact on either creating cynicism or negativity or reversing people's understanding of the catastrophe we face and how serious the situation is? If we were to accept that it is as serious as it is, we would not advertise flights, cars or anything else that emits fossil fuels and creates more problems for the planet.

The second matter I will raise is the argument around individual change, how we look at individuals psychologically and how we change their behaviour and the barriers to change. I find it fascinating that we focus so much on that and not on the behaviour of, for example, the CEO of Ryanair or the heads of agribusinesses that emit emissions by growing the herd and refusing to change their practices and sticking rigidly to the agricultural practices we have. Again, you could have a big item on emissions, pollution of waters and so on and then a big advertisement for meat, bacon, pork, beef or whatever else. The witnesses understand what I am getting at. We do not look at the behaviour of CEOs of companies or those clamouring to extend licences for gas exploration. What about their behaviour, their addiction to the profits they make and the behaviour of the industry itself? Are we looking at that and how we might be able to change their behaviour rather than looking at the individual? I think it was Deputy Cronin again who said that she finds that young people are not interested in cars and want to use public transport. That is a good sign for the future. However, there is the behaviour of the business conglomerates that try to push these models on us while at the same time acknowledging, or pretending to acknowledge, that we have a climate catastrophe. Have we looked at their behaviour and what we may do to reverse that? I think - and the witnesses might agree - that if we could change their behaviour, that would have a much bigger impact than trying to change the behaviour of Bríd Smith or any of us sitting in the committee room or outside it.