Mr. John McCarthy:

Senator Keane mentioned the importance of the "transition" word which we have used consistently through the Minister's roadmap and through some of the presentations today. It is a transition towards 2050. We are talking about a fairly significant societal and economic transformation and it will not be achieved overnight but for a transition, we need to know where we are going, how we are going to get there and what is the most effective pathway. That is why the sectoral roadmaps Departments have been asked to prepare are so important in charting out that pathway in the individual sectors.

Another contributor questioned whether we were being ambitious enough in regard to 2050. As I said, 2050 may seem like a long time away - it is nearly 40 years away - but decisions taken over the next five to ten years will be crucially important in effecting change that will have long-term consequences. I think 2050 is a well-recognised and well-established time framework within which to operate but with milestones along the way, including targets for 2020. Further targets will be set.

Deputy Mulherin mentioned the carbon tax, which certainly has an impact on price. Stepping back from it again and looking at the bigger picture, when one looks at the overall price of oil and gas and the extent to which we are import-dependent for oil and gas - I should qualify this by saying the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources leads on energy matters, so I am not claiming to be an expert on it - that is the significant driver of what individual consumers and businesses pay. There is an issue around how we substitute for that import reliability, greater reliance on our own renewable resources and address some of the difficult issues with which the Deputy and other politicians are faced. How can we address them in a sensible evidence-supported way rather than in a way where scare stories and other issues get communicated as if they are gospel when that may not be the case?

Dr. Rory O'Donnell and colleagues from NESC might what to say something on the education dimension and the engagement with behavioural change but before I hand over to them, I would like to say that we put in place a fairly extensive education campaign in primary schools in regard to climate change over the past number of years. We worked very closely with teachers through the teaching centre in Blackrock and developed some very good resource materials, which are in schools and which are designed to ensure that in ten to 15 years' time, the people who have grown up out of the school system will have had an education in and a knowledge of climate change built into their consciousness from an early stage.