Professor John FitzGerald:

No, you lose credibility. We are researchers, not policy makers. In respect of my own publications, I have concerns about endlessly repeating the same mantra in a number of areas. For almost 25 years, I have been saying that I am really concerned about global warming, that we should do something and that a carbon tax is the answer. I feel people say, "That's FitzGerald rabbitting on again". I felt the same with regard to my concerns about the housing problem. We felt isolated and felt that until "Future Shock", people did not take this seriously. I am not a politician, I have chosen to be a researcher. If you start campaigning and join the process, one side or other of the political process will say, "You would say that anyway". You would be devalued. It is important for me over my career to have established myself as independent of politics and not to campaign for or favour a particular side. It has been complicated over the years, with a wife and a father in politics. There have been headlines in newspapers saying, "FitzGerald criticised father" or "FitzGerald at war with wife". It has been particularly important for me but in respect of the institute generally, if you become a player, you are campaigning and your research will be devalued. Most of my colleagues and I examine our consciences if there is a headline that is about us rather than our research.