Mr. Philip Bromwell:

I will touch on the issue that was raised about social media and the circular economy. I commissioned a strand of content for our social and online platforms which we called climate heroes. Over the course of the year we have produced 49 stories, and are almost up to the milestone of 50, looking at the people and projects around the country who are stepping up to do something and who are trying to protect the environment and tackle climate change. It is a solutions-based approach, and within that we find there is a real appetite for solutions, so it is incumbent on us to reflect that. To be honest, no project is too small because there is a collective responsibility that we are all part of the solution per se. What we did in the course of that series in terms of the circular economy was to look at a project happening over the road from us here in UCD called Revolution Farm & Kitchen.It uses spent coffee grounds from the cafés in UCD to grow mushrooms which they then turn into a range of sauces that are sold in cafés and restaurants across counties Kildare and Dublin. Those kinds of solutions we can highlight are definitely part of what we are trying to do. In terms of the engagement they are getting, we find that because of the appetite for solutions and because, let us face it, climate change is a big scary subject and can be quite abstract, if we can highlight things that are working and give people a bit of hope and inspiration, that is where we see engagement. Certainly in this strand we are seeing above average engagement with lots of comments and suggestions. It becomes a two-way thing where we are listening and looking for opportunities to take ideas from the public as to what projects they would like to be highlighted. We become part of the conversation as well.