Mr. Gabriel D'Arcy:

Ireland has a small open economy and people must understand that it operates in a global context. Notwithstanding how emotional we might feel about it, we must be careful about taking unilateral actions. Any actions we take must be in some way aligned to European and international actions. I am of the view that in certain sectors we can be at the forefront in respect of this matter and, as a result, enjoy disproportionate gains. We must be careful, however, about taking unilateral actions. I accept that this may be an extreme example but we could decide to go carbon free tomorrow and to put in place a national law stating that the country must have zero carbon emissions. This would lead to a large number of business closures throughout the country but would that have any impact in respect of climate change?

No, it would not. It would certainly get us notice but it would have no benefit for the social, economic or environmental fabric of Ireland. Therefore, we cannot act unilaterally. The Minister and his officials engaged very actively in Doha, and we need to be represented there. We can be leaders in those debates and some progress is being made having regard to some comments that were made by international leaders in America, China and so forth. It is in that context that I mean that we as a small open economy have to be careful about unilateralism. Mr. Joseph Curtin might wish to add a further comment.