Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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My concern is wider in that we are investing in infrastructure that will not be fit for the future. Everything is changing. The Paris Agreement commits us to decarbonising our energy and transport systems. If we continue with inappropriate investment decisions now, not only will we face fines for failure to comply but we will face having the wrong infrastructure and effectively the wrong economy.

Let me return to my first question. Given my concerns, it seems that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has no understanding of the urgency of this climate issue and no ability to cost or assess projects to make infrastructural decisions based on moving towards a sustainable economy. It seems completely blind to this as a threat. If we put an infrastructure project unit within the Department, is there not a risk that we are just doubling up on a system therein that simply does not get the need to move towards a sustainable, renewable low-carbon economy?