Dr. Diarmuid Torney:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. I could talk all day about all of this but I will try to limit my remarks. On the point about the climate action ecosystem, as he described it, we have come a long way. The committee members are at the coalface of these efforts. One of the pieces of research we reflected on in volume 4 was a benchmarking study I undertook that looked at the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 in comparative perspective. The key message from the study was that our climate legislation is very strong by international standards. The role of this committee is particularly important. It plays a kind of anchoring role by way of both holding the Government to account and bringing in external expertise. The annual transition statement process under the 2015 Act really did not provide as strong an accountability mechanism as what we have now. That is where we are doing very well.

Another important development is the creation of climate action teams across all Departments. Professor Ó Gallachóir and I were reflecting earlier this morning that, five or ten years ago, the then equivalent of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications had a very small number of staff working on climate. There are now many multiples of that number engaged in this work. That is reflected across other Departments and at local authority level. It is a very strong development.

Where there is perhaps more to be done is in the wider apparatus of the State, including State agencies and non-departmental public bodies. More could be done by them both in terms of scaling and expertise and also in reorienting their mandates.

The Deputy's second question about whether this whole ICCA process will be repeated is really a question for the Environmental Protection Agency. My understanding is that there is an appetite to repeat it. However, that is a question for the agency rather than for us.

The Deputy's final question was on the importance of equity, well-being and fairness in climate change policy. Those themes come out very strongly in volume 4. We can share the details of that with the committee. There is a strong evidence base to say that taking such an approach is not only the right thing to do, but that bolstering the just transition and striving for more equal societies delivers stronger climate action.