Dr. Seán Healy:

I am not that convinced that the climate change plan is a plan. There are many individual items in it but there are no timeframes or costings and we are in danger of the outcome that Deputy Broughan is pointing to, that vulnerable people will carry the can, will be hit hardest, and that we will not have a genuine, focused, integrated plan that affects everybody's capacity to contribute. That is what we need.

It is critically important to recognise that the pieces of this plan-to-be have to travel simultaneously. Ms Murphy made this point in the slightly different context that we must be prepared to ensure that vulnerable people, whether they are rural dwellers or people in fuel poverty or whatever, are protected from the consequences of what we talk about. All of the various elements of the mitigation have to be in place if we are to move forward with the climate change plan. Otherwise, there is a real danger of the vulnerable being the victims.

For several years we have shown what the situation was in the health budget overspend. It has always been a situation in which maintaining the level of existing service has not been fully provided for in the following year's budget and as a result it automatically goes over budget. There is a danger of that happening in other areas as well. It is critically important that we do not go that way and to prevent that happening we need to be transparent and the numbers need to be on the table. That was the point I made earlier about some of the numbers that have been removed or omitted from the spring statement this year that have been in spring statements for several years previously. We need a transparent process that recognises the numbers during the year but also that we have them all the time and can make those adjustments so that people who are trying to work out the future or what should be in the budget are not left in a situation of not being clear about the various components.