Mr. Leslie Carberry:

I thank the Deputy for the questions. To take the last part first, the circular economy team and the wider Department are always delighted to engage with the committee at any time that is convenient in order to discuss developments in circular economy policy and to get the views of its members on this subject. We will be more than happy to take up any invitation in this regard.

On the question of policy coherence, just using the circular economy as an example, to take the point raised by the Deputy concerning the sectoral strategies or roadmaps, the first of these is in development. We are focusing on the construction sector now. We have received input on this from officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, so there will be that sectoral insight and expertise in future. Another example is green public procurement, where we are working closely with the Office of Government Procurement, which is located within the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Moving to food waste, we are working with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Turning to the sustainable products directive, currently being discussed in Europe, our Department and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are effectively co-leading the national position in those negotiations.

While I can understand, therefore, that it appears the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is leading the charge solely on the circular economy, under the hood there is a high level of engagement across Departments on the areas that pertain to the policy leads of each.

On the global strategy and why the committee is not hearing about this aspect from other Departments, we are in the early stages of drafting it. We are looking at the structural inputs that need to go into the strategy and this means we are the penholder at this stage. We are trying to get these building blocks and frameworks right. When we come to populate the document with policy targets and actions, however, it will then be widely circulated across Government because it will probably touch on most sectors of economic activity.