Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 September 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Joint Meeting with Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action
Remits of Committees: European Court of Auditors

1:30 pm

Mr. Tony Murphy:

To be fair, it is good to have ambitions. Let us be clear on that. There are other areas where the targets that have been set have been surpassed at the time when they are being set, and there is no added value there either. I am not saying the targets are unrealistic but they are ambitious. It is not a criticism of the target setting; rather, it is saying the Commission may not make the target and may have to revise it internally or reflect on how it wants to get there. I am not saying we will ever get there. Getting to zero emissions is kind of the Holy Grail, but as for whether it will ever happen, we will see. As I said, we are not politicians. We just report on what has been promised. If the Commission says it will do something and outlines how it will do it, we just look at whether it is delivering. Again, from the EU project perspective, it is very bad to create unrealistic expectations. That can only set ourselves up to be criticised in the long run because people will say it did not work.

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