Mr. Ois?n Coghlan:

I will respond on the issue of the wider picture. I mentioned the importance of stories. There is a risk of politicians misreading the relationship between stories and evidence. There are stories about pushback and farmer protests at the European level, as a result of which the European People's Party, EPP, in particular, with the notable and honourable exception of Fine Gael and some others, is worried about smallish shifts that they want to outflank by doing X or Y. When you look at the public opinion data in this country and elsewhere, more people are concerned about the climate now than were concerned about it five years ago. At that time, the story was Greta Thunberg and the young people in the streets. We probably over-interpreted that sign. It was amazing, but did it represent the majority then? It did not. The numbers underneath are probably stronger now. New stories, issues and challenges are emerging but politicians have to hold their nerve and serve the majority, as well as the scientific evidence, of course. Even though the results of the European elections are likely to be complex and new parties and formations will emerge, it is likely that the centre will hold this time and the majority in the European Parliament will be people who have signed up to all of these progressive and important targets and strategies. We need not over-interpret minority voices and must get on with the monumental and existential challenge of ensuring climate safety for future generations because if we do not, in five years' time when Spain is burning for the fourth year running, different people will be in the streets and the politicians, the public and the media will be wondering why we did not do enough to contain climate change. We need to hold the line as strongly as possible in the next five years and beyond.