Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

By way of background, the periodic review reports, as the name suggests, are expected to be few and far between and to involve major, substantive issues relating to either or both mitigation and adaptation. In other words, it is anticipated that the expert advisory council will only embark upon a periodic review when it is concerned about some aspect of Government policy or the implementation of that policy, as it relates to climate change.

Accordingly, I believe that it is only right and proper that sufficient time is afforded the body politic to examine and analyse a periodic review report, including its formal submission to the Government, prior to its publication. There is no intention, or indeed provision, for the Government to seek to alter or amend the periodic review report: the timeframe in the Bill is merely to allow for full prior consideration of its contents before it is released into the public domain without adulteration.

For these reasons, a ten-day deadline is simply not reasonable in terms of what is required. However, my amendment No. 148 proposed shortening the timeframe to not more than 30 days in the interests of timely public debate, while still allowing adequate time for the report to be noted by Government prior to publication. In terms of consistency, the amendment would also put the publication timeframe on a par with that in respect of the publication of the expert advisory council’s annual reports.

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