Professor Brian Caulfield:

It is a good question. In transport, which is my area of expertise, we do have a pathway. We have a lot of modelling that shows how to get to where we need to be by 2030. The big issue is, to go back to the Cathaoirleach's first question, the political acceptability of it. Getting to where we need to be by 2030 means very draconian measures. Parking charges, congestion charges and all of those types of things need to happen. We need to invest in public transport a lot more than we currently are. In the city we are currently in, the most recent piece of new rail infrastructure was opened in 2017. We are in a climate crisis and it does not look like there will be any construction of new rail in this city for five or six years. The slow delivery of that has become a big issue.

In volume 4, we point to the reorganisation of our built environment and the giving up of streets to traffic. The point was put out there that 75% of people want this to happen, but it is the same percentage of people who are driving and causing these emissions. As we have seen in all cities and towns across the country, when we try to introduce traffic calming, the removal of traffic or parking charges, it is, politically, a hot potato and it is very difficult to achieve.

As I have said, I am not an expert in agriculture and I will defer to my colleagues in UCC in this regard, but in transport, we have a plan and that plan is going very slowly.