Dr. Dermot Coates:

I take the Deputy's point. In terms of trying to shift the enterprise base or business in general to factor this into their thinking and as to how they measure and then action the change, that is a very steep challenge. We have been tasked by our management board to undertake detailed work looking at Irish enterprises in the context of employment, gross added value, GVA, and emissions and not to focus just on one strand of this. It is to disaggregate to where we could say where are the sectors that are really underperforming here and not just talking about industry or agriculture but being able to drill down into the data and see where the key imbalance is. I expect the results of that will be published in the next couple of weeks. We will certainly send them to all committee members afterwards. It would be a useful contribution to the debate.

What we are showing is that on the enterprise side, large firms, whether IDA Ireland or Enterprise Ireland colleagues, have climate action plans, monitor their emissions and are changing the mix of their energy. At the other end of the spectrum, micro-firms or firms we might consider to have been born in the decarbonisation era where this is part of their thinking tend to do quite well. There is a block of SMEs in the middle where the evidence would suggest they are disproportionately less likely to have a climate action plan and measure their emissions and that this is not the focus of the business. When we think about the nature of those businesses we are talking about people who are trying to run a small firm where they are the director, HR manager, accountant and salesperson. What is the extent to which they have the bandwidth or capacity to take this on board and really understand what it will mean for their businesses?

When we look at the economics and the concept of green complexity, we certainly see that there is a first-mover advantage for firms because those firms that adopted technologies and new business practices that enabled them to decarbonise and also make the digital transition will, in turn, reduce their own overheads. In that sense, being a laggard creates a risk that a firm will fall behind. We increasingly see, when we look at supply chains and value chains, that this is expected by consumers and peers so that pressure exists.

On foot of that study, I anticipate we will move with this to having a more intensive focus on those sectors and firms which do not take up the supports. As the Deputy rightly stated, the supports are there but there is a take-up issue. The State stands ready to assist those firms but there is a take-up issue. It is about how we move to really focus on those that could best benefit. Mr. Cummins may wish to address food security and circularity.