Ms Catherine Devitt:

Yes. The Commission provides feedback on draft NECPs to all member states. Because Ireland was five months late in submitting its draft plan, the Commission had only a limited time to analyse Ireland's submission. The feedback was provided in, I think, February of this year. Ireland, along with every other member state, is required to incorporate that feedback into its final plan that it will submit in June and outline the reasons it may not incorporate particular aspects of the feedback and the recommendations from the Commission.

It is worth adding that the process of dialogue between the Commission and member states is quite helpful to member states in this planning process. The feedback is quite detailed. It usually outlines what needs to be in the final plan as well. There is a lot there for the Government to use in that feedback from the Commission across all aspects of the NECP.