Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I wish Deputy Bruton the very best of luck as well on those new shores that lie ahead of us all. I very much appreciate his kind comments.

I agree with him. How do you narrow down some measures, such as improving air quality, to one single measure? My understanding of that output measure, the PM10s going from 19% to 32%, is that it is good news because that is the percentage of stations currently above the 2030 target set out in the clean air strategy, so that is greater progress.

I take the Deputy's point. I will be honest and upfront. I sometimes find, particularly on budget day, or even in subsequent discussions, as a Minister, even as a TD, not to mention as a layperson, that it is very hard to assess where some of the spending is going and what some of the outcomes are. We need to continually look at that. It is important we have measures. Take the issue of air quality. I recently met the EPA and I asked them if we are starting to see the benefits of the change in the solid fuels regulations which we introduced some two years ago, and they said "Yes", that they are discernible and measurable. In areas such as that you will need to go down to very precise numeric measures of pollutants, so I accept the Deputy's point. The individual output targets selected may be or are sometimes hard to understand or see as a comprehensive picture, but it is important we measure progress and the consequences of the spending. To take that example, that is not a small change; it is almost an 80% improvement in air quality. It will benefit people's day-to-day lives in a very dramatic way.