Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 6 November 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Conference of the Parties, COP, 25: Discussion

Mr. Oisín Coghlan:

Specifically, on Deputy Pringle's question, we did welcome the Climate Change Advisory Council and called in advance for it not to be a stakeholder body. It is important that it be an expert body. We were not looking to be on it or having other members of the social partnership on it. It is correct that it is an expert body. Even the current members of the Climate Change Advisory Council would probably say there are too many economists on it. They are almost all economists. It is bonkers that there is no climate scientist on it. There are several to choose from, one is in this room, but no climate scientist was put on the advisory council. That was not an oversight, it was done deliberately for some reason. Beyond that, there is a need for a broader set of expertise, including sociology and social science, and possibly even psychology and communications as in a broader package of expertise.