Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. To pick up on that point, this is a process that is evolving. We need to get to a place where we have a calendar of engagements and accountability. Maybe we need to look at the scheduling of that in relation to EPA announcements or updated figures. We want to get to a place where we are actually looking at the detail of it. The idea as I understand it is that Ministers would come in and account for the performance of their Department and how they are going to improve on it or otherwise.

Regarding the governance structures, following up on the Chair's point, I see some evolution in the climate action plan. There is a reformed climate action delivery board and a climate action unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. I know I am in the Opposition but you certainly get the sense from engagements that the new dispensation has not penetrated across the Government or into all individual Departments. As a committee, there is some frustration in getting access to officials. Sometimes I feel there is not a deep understanding of the implications of the climate action plan or the climate action law. Can the Minister give us a sense of how he feels the climate action plan is being adopted across all of Government? What are the tools for accountability within the Government, within the Department of the Taoiseach and within individual Departments? I appreciate that there are limitations in terms of Cabinet confidentiality and all of that but I think the Minister gets the point I am trying to make. This is not a hobbyhorse of any individual Minister; this is something that needs to penetrate across all of Government and needs to reflect a new way of doing business. I often draw the comparison around how equipped we are to deal with financial matters and how ill-equipped we are to deal with climate matters. I ask the Minister to comment on some of that.