Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank all of our guests for coming in. As has been said numerous times, there is almost complete unanimity among experts on what climate change is and on the fact that it exists and so on. There is also almost complete unanimity on the actions that are required to address climate change. There is an acceptance among the general public that climate change exists and is real as well as an understanding of the science. Broadcasters have done a good job in presenting the evidence but is it fair to say that a lot more work is needed to communicate the consensus around the actions required to tackle climate change? Climate action means a modal shift away from new roads towards cycling, walking and public transport and the associated planning that is required in order to do that. It also means that we need to ramp up on renewables, which means that we will need more wind farms, and that we will have to bring down our agricultural emissions. These are the areas where the rubber hits the road and we need to make sure that broadcasters understand that. My personal experience is that there is no issue around the communication of the fact that climate change exists but a difficulty arises with communicating the things that need to happen to tackle it. Are our guests confident that broadcasters are communicating that, are doing it fairly and in accordance with the relevant legislation and the codes of the BAI?