Dr. Alison Hough:

We cannot know the internal workings of the Department but, from an outside perspective, there is a marked contrast between the approach to developing the 2024 climate action plan and the approach to the national energy and climate plan. There seems to have been a lack of seriousness, if that is the best way to put it, in the approach to the NECP as opposed to the 2024 climate action plan. It seems like all of the energy went into that document. They are not the same thing. One is not interchangeable with the other. NECPs cover a very different range of dimensions to the energy and climate union, Ireland's place within that union and how Ireland is to do its part, as a member state, to help the European Union face the climate challenge. Those dimensions are not captured within the 2024 climate action plan. It is very important to remember that, no matter how well we prepare our climate action plan under the domestic legislation, it is not a substitute. The legislation could be amended to make the plan line up with the requirements of an NECP. I do not know whether that is desirable. I do not think it has been explored sufficiently but, as things stand, two very heavyweight plans were produced in a short period of time and one was done better than the other.