Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming in today and for all of their work on this really important piece of work. It is great to see it come to fruition. I am trying to get a sense of where we are at the moment. It sometimes can be difficult to have that full picture. We try to get the balance right and do not wish to be overly negative as positive things are happening, such as very worthwhile policy initiatives. Sometimes, however, individual policy initiatives can mask the overall problem we are facing. They will not be enough to meet or to do what we need done. I am looking at the graph provided on the carbon budgets. It specifies that in 2021 and 2022, we were above the carbon budgets and indicative estimates for 2023 suggest that we will be again, but I am trying to equate that with the average cuts that we said we would need to meet those budgets when we were proceeding with the legislation . For the first five years, the carbon budget was 4.8% and the second one was 8.3%, which obviously was going to be much harder. Does Professor Ó Gallachóir have the figures on what we are tracking at the moment on a percentage basis? He may not. We have not been meeting the 4.8% and with those two carbon budgets, we were above it. We reduced our carbon emissions slightly last year but what percentage reduction do we need to see between now and the end of the first budget to meet that budget? What impact will that have on the second budget?