Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank the witnesses for their comments. I agree with Deputies Christopher O'Sullivan and Bruton about the electric vehicle charging points. It is frustrating when so much funding is available and people fail to apply for it. We have a problem in Connemara too, so it is not just Westport. It goes to the heart of the point I am going to make, which is we have to bring communities with us. That is a key part of the Government's approach and it is the right approach. We are looking at sectoral emissions ceilings.

How will we achieve things if we do not ensure there is more than an opt-in from local authorities? I know we had a witness with us a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Seamus Hoyne, from the climate action regional offices who does education. He looked at county and city development plans before engaging with the councils. He looked at how they might be improved to help to ensure there was more sustainable development. The question is whether that is enough. At what point do we have to say local authorities have an obligation when it comes to meeting our targets and the targets in the county and city development plans? That runs through planning. I absolutely agree many good people are working in local authorities but is it helping when they do not have targets and they are battling for funding with other parts of local authorities? That is a challenging question.