Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail)
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I have a couple of remarks to make more so than questions. Since RTÉ was before the committee last to discuss this issue, I have seen a marked change in the level of programming and content related to climate and climate action and the necessity for same. I watch programmes on TV and listen to radio programmes with interest when I am in my car. The programming is targeted in the right way. RTÉ is focusing on bringing people on a journey. It is telling the story of climate change and explaining the implications. I think this strategy is working because more and more people are talking about it.

I get the point that Dr. Nordrum makes but it is a very absolutist position. That may be helpful in a society because it creates a counter balance. It forces all of us to think but I also meet people on a daily basis and I am probably meeting them a bit more regularly at the moment as I am tormenting them in the evening when they are settling in for their dinner when I am canvassing. I am very clear that people have a concern about what is often referred to now as "You over there, the elite". Members of the media and politicians are put in a space by people that is not always in their space.

Some people are consuming information from the Internet, including YouTube, or wherever, but there is a great deal of disinformation there. If we are not careful in how we bring people along on this journey, we will lose many of them. If it were to start being said that the Government and RTÉ were in cahoots to remove cars, foreign travel and holidays from the advertising agenda, it would have a counterproductive impact. The witnesses are telling the truth about climate change and they are doing it in an open and direct way, although I am sure it annoys some people who would prefer it if the witnesses did not focus so much on it. When we start getting into prohibiting or removing information, though, it becomes a different space. It puts it back on us, actually. If we decided to ban the advertising of cars, holidays and flights altogether and see where it took us, I do not believe society would carry that terribly well.

We have to be balanced and proportionate in our response. As a broadcaster, RTÉ has to map that in a way that is proportionate, responsible and directional and seeks to bring citizens on that journey.