Dr. Eddie Casey:

On the climate side, there are two main issues we can think of, one of which relates to the loss of all these taxes we need to replace. We will lose several streams of revenues coming in through motor tax, fossil fuel and so on. While we could introduce distance-travelled taxes or congestion charges - the tax strategy papers look at some of those solutions and they have been looked at elsewhere - those are really just taxes we would have to figure out a way to replace.

In terms of the spending, which I think the Deputy is talking about, there are three main areas we can think of there. One is the massive level of retrofitting, which we referred to and which is labour intensive, so we know that is going to take a long time. It is going to be expensive if we try to do it all now, given there is so great a shortage of workers in those areas. We are looking for the same types of workers to do housing, transport and infrastructure, so that is difficult.

Another area is the electrification of Ireland's vehicles. That can be anything from public sector vehicles, such as ambulances and Garda vehicles, to private transport, which is basically people switching from a fossil fuel, internal combustion engine to an electric vehicle. We know that is going to be difficult for people to do, but the good thing is that it is mostly imported, so it is not going to add to domestic pressures such as on prices. It is good we can do it at a point such as this in the cycle without adding to the existing pressures.

That is one way we could use a lot of this money to hit targets that are going to be binding in any event, and we know from research done on the costs of non-compliance that those costs are looking exceptionally high for Ireland. A recent report from T and E looked at the costs throughout Europe and Ireland is at the bottom of the league table because of its failure to meet its targets and how far out it could be. It looks as though Ireland will find it difficult in 2032 to buy compliance from member states that are overperforming because the likes of Germany and Italy are so far behind as well that they will probably buy up most of these credits from other member states. That leaves us in a very difficult position, and we could be looking at non-compliance costs of more than €10 billion and potentially up to €20 billion in some scenarios, which dwarfs the Apple money. When we talk about these issues, we need to think about the cost of these sanctions coming down the line, and they are just a payment to our neighbours. If we think of that as a lost opportunity against the steps we could be taking to benefit citizens, that is a stark trade-off.