Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The most recent update we have prepared in regard to compliance and potential costs is the paper that was published in 2022 by my Department. We did so in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. It laid out a range of different compliance scenarios, including the most extreme cost which is the risk that the compliance cost by 2030 could rise to €8.1 billion. I want to emphasise that that is at the far end of the spectrum in terms of what our compliance costs could be. Obviously, what we are now doing, through the national development plan and all of the different regulatory decisions the State is making, is trying to do all we can to minimise that compliance outlook and the cost the State and taxpayers may have to encounter in the years ahead.

This was done last in 2022 and it has not been updated since because we still believe it is a credible prediction of the different scenarios we may encounter. Obviously, I say to Deputy O'Rourke that we are doing all we can to avoid having to be in that place.