Mr. Simon Murtagh:

When I last appeared before the committee, I mentioned the concept of guilt because eco-anxiety, as it is also called, is a big emotional question when we work with people. It is important to recognise, however, as I said the last time, that the emissions of ordinary people, whether working class or, for the most part, middle class, have not risen in consumption terms, and that is outlined in the report compiled by the Stockholm Institute. I have the figures for Ireland in particular, which I would be happy to share. Throughout the income groups below the 10%, emissions have dropped or plateaued in recent years, but that is not the case for the top 10% or the top 1% in particular.

That is an important point to make to constituents and, in my view, it is not being populist. It may be popular to tax the rich, and it is popular when we look at opinion polls, but I do not count that as populist-----