Professor John Sweeney:

We have already touched on some of the issues raised by Senator Boylan. The long-term strategy is also a requirement of the EU at the moment. We had to submit a long-term climate strategy, in theory, by the end of 2018, and we managed it in early 2019. I think that will be tightened up over time but we should at least pay some comment in the Bill to the fact that we have a long-term strategy of decarbonisation.

It is important for us to address what we mean by carbon neutrality and how to achieve same. I do not want us to achieve it in the last five years. I want us to be on a trajectory that gives confidence in the next 30 years that we are on that pathway. So, a long-term strategy would be useful.

A Bill should be justiciable. Citizens have a right to hold the Government to account if it is not achieving what the electorate wished it to achieve in establishing this Bill, for example.

In response to Senator Higgins, Article 4 of the Paris Agreement would be a much more powerful inclusion than Article 2. As she mentioned, language is vital. As we discussed this morning, the phrase "not in contradiction to" would be very useful but I shall leave commentary to my legal friend who is probably much better at explaining that than me.

In terms of the question on underachievement, that is probably the only place in the Bill where the word "may" might be valuable, where the Minister should have discretion to not carry over the benefits of underachievement to the next carbon budget. Indeed, that is a fairly unlikely situation to happen given the way the international trend is towards getting even more tight carbon budgets as time goes on.

Deputy Devlin asked for the differences with the UK Act. The key difference is the obligation to correct or carry overshoots into the next carbon budget and plan for the carbon budget on that basis. Also, the other key aspect is that the UK Climate Change Committee has a very powerful role in influencing infrastructural developments, which was mentioned by Senator Higgins. We must climate change proof many aspects of Irish society and this Bill should give the power to do that in a way that has happened in other jurisdictions.

For achieved targets, we pat ourselves on the back certainly, as we have said. We also recognise that the next generation will have to face difficult times and we should not simply bank the benefits of achieved targets. We have dealt with the Climate Change Advisory Council make up quite thoroughly at this point. I would be happy to revert on anything that I have missed out on in any of my replies.