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

I thank the delegates very much for what was a very interesting presentation. The first question is for Ms Costello. The claim that advertising is responsible for an extra 32% of the carbon footprint of every single person in the country is truly stunning. How is that calculated? Is it disputed? It raises very significant issues if it is undisputed.

On Mr. White's presentation, I am interested in knowing what has happened in the countries that have introduced advertising bans. How do the companies react? I cannot imagine they put their advertising revenue into creative work in the advertising field to promote green products. I am interested in knowing what happens. With the removal of an advertising stream from many media that had got used to depending on it, how did governments that introduced the bans address the collapse in support for radio, television and local print media that might have been depending on the advertising? Do we need to know the reverberations through the system before we move to that?

Some of the statements made on advertising standards are tantalising. It was said that green claims must not be used as a marketing trick. This is a very low standard. It was also said that green claims have to enable the transition and be adapted to the needs of consumers.

On what Mr. White was saying earlier about SUVs, an SUV has a footprint of more than 30 tonnes per vehicle compared with 8 tonnes for a small-sized car. That is a multiple of four. Where does the ASAI stand on advertising that does not seek in any way to address that dramatic difference? To stay within the self-regulatory framework, is there not an obligation to move on some of these matters? There is scope in the future for labelling but I do not believe we are anywhere close to having the level of knowledge required. A regulatory scheme could be detailed, but, as was said, primary legislation is very inflexible. How will the representatives respond to what is clearly the existential challenge to us? Saying people should not have marketing tricks is a very low bar. What is the task of the self-regulator if we are not to trigger much more heavy-handed regulation? I suppose the jury is out on that. We really need to move a little more aggressively to lock down some of the practices that are clearly present.