Mr.Brian Carroll:

I agree with the importance of public involvement. The Bill itself provides that the Minister may consult in the preparation of plans and strategies. There are also very specific requirements on local authorities to consult.

They are set out in section 12(5) of the Bill and are the structures of Government that are closest to local communities. The Deputy mentioned, in particular, the Citizens' Assembly and, in fact, this Bill is the outworking of the Citizens' Assembly, the joint Oireachtas committee that considered the Citizens' Assembly report, the climate action plan and the programme for Government.

Earlier, I mentioned that separately there are plans to have a national climate dialogue and that will have three dimensions. One is around how Government communicates in a consistent manner with society on climate. A second dimension is around national convening of key stakeholders periodically. That will certainly give a voice to a variety of representative groups. The third and probably most important bit is around local dialogue and activation. There are plans for having that type of dialogue structure around climate going forward.

On the just transition, in particular, there are commitments in the programme for Government. We already have a just transition commissioner active in the midlands.. There is talk of the just transition commissioner being established on a more permanent and resourced footing to look forward over the coming time horizons at groups of workers who are likely to be affected by transitions, both the climate decarbonisation transition and also the digital one.

In answer to the Deputy's question, some of the pieces he raised are being dealt with in certain ways in the Bill but are separately being dealt with through other initiatives in Government policy around dialogue and around the just transition.