Ms Evelyn Cusack:

With regard to featuring climate change on weather forecasts on television, which I had the privilege of presenting since 1988, I have worked through many severe weather events and in this two-minute slot, we are primarily concerned with the weather forecast. When I started in 1988, our weather forecasting was just about one day ahead - where we had confidence in our accuracy. I am very glad to say that since then, we have developed to the point where we are up to five to seven days ahead. As the Deputy mentioned, the farming forecast on RTÉ is of great importance. We concentrate on the weather forecast, warnings and advisories for the safety of the public during that slot. Very occasionally, we mention climate change. We have plans to bring it in in a more organised way - perhaps at the end of each season - and to bring in more WMR and IPCC reports. That slot is primarily for weather forecasts and warnings.