Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, my criticism related to the 2020 targets to which we signed up, in that we did not have the economic analysis that should have been available to us. The Commission has since held up its hands and said that the realistic cost-effective target that should have been set for us was 7%, not 20%, but that is irrelevant at this stage. It is in the past, and we have those targets now. We must try to get as close to them as possible and ensure that we have targets that we can achieve by 2030.

A large challenge lies ahead. The Deputy is right, in that, as the Minister in charge, I must have the economic facts and figures in order to make the case. The systems in government need to be reformed to reflect that. I need everyone's support if that is to be done. I have spoken with the Climate Change Advisory Council on this matter. There is much expertise inside and outside the council. I have told NGOs and the like that I need support. We need to test the robustness of the case, which will be done in-house and externally, but we all need to work together and make the economic case that justifies this level of spending, not just in the long term, but in the short term as regards air quality. One in five children in this country suffers from asthma and there are four deaths per day as a result of poor air quality. We can deal with the challenges of today, not just the long term, by making an investment in this area.

See this speech in context