Mr. Matthew Collins:

I will try to cover the questions from Deputies Ryan and Smith. I reiterate my statement in terms of addressing whether we accept climate change science. I cannot recall when we last had that debate in Ireland. We are clear that all our policies are set in the context of international climate objectives to which we have agreed and European policy. For energy policy, the three pillars I identified at the start are important, namely, sustainability, security and competitiveness. Sustainability is the element under which we want to address our greenhouse gas emissions and that is at the heart of our energy policy. However, it is not just a single objective that we need to take account of. We want to achieve security of supply of energy sources for business and householders. We want to ensure that we achieve this transition and balance our security and sustainability goals in an affordable manner. That results in support for families and businesses in terms of competitiveness. Balancing those three objectives is at the heart of the energy policy but at the core of it is clearly sustainability. Within the EU, we have signed up to the framework convention on climate change and to the Kyoto and Paris accords.

Deputy Ryan mentioned UCC and scenarios. The role of scenarios was to provide context for deliberations and decisions. I will not defend or elaborate on the different scenarios they have proposed.

I am sure the Deputy could engage directly with the centre in Cork.