Mr. Ian Talbot:

The Deputy will be familiar with the efforts we go through as a network to try to get our chambers around the country to have critical mass and be able to engage in some of these policy discussions. As with anything, when you look back in retrospect, there is always more you could have done.

As the committee will know well, we have been strong supporters of the sustainable development goals, in the broader sense, since they were brought out, including climate change but also many other things. The key issue for us is to keep feeding our members around the country with the key information they need. It is also helpful when we hear from politicians of all views on what their challenges are, as this also helps us frame local messages. I do not think we can underestimate the importance, in respect of the judicial reviews and everything else coming through, that so many of them are local issues which are very hard to spot from a national perspective. However, if people on the ground were better briefed, maybe we could help to address some of the issues before they become court challenges.

I cannot stress enough the point about making sure the appropriate authorities have the resources they need, for example, that the courts have the resources to deal with and address issues quickly. Nobody wants to in any way damage our democratic right to monitor, object or whatever, but the quicker we can deal with things, the quicker we can move on.

Regarding the Draghi and Letta reports, I was reading this morning that only 11% of the Draghi report has been implemented. Progress is very slow. We are certainly working with our colleagues in Eurochambres to get the message delivered regarding its importance for Europe, and in the broader sense, for competitiveness. We also cannot forget we have all made commitments following on from Ursula von der Leyen's speech 18 months ago on the reduction in administrative and regulatory burden. There is not much sign of things happening there. We need to do more in Ireland and elsewhere to reduce the regulatory burden so people have more time available to focus on things that are really important.

On private wires, we have not studied this issue in great detail but, as far as we are concerned, if we can get private funding, public funding or a mix of funding to get things moving, we are fully in support of it.