They've abandoned it, have they?

Well, it looks like as if they have.

I mean, I suppose it's worth saying at the start, the Road Safety Authority, you know, when we set up a body like that, we rely on them to do their research and to be the experts.

And really they are.

And in fairness to them, their message still is, if you are drinking, don't drive.

And that's the message that they're very clear on.

But they've come up with this idea whereby pubs and hotels and even summer festivals would have available breathalyzers where you can check to see where you are in terms of the limit.

The minister is meeting with the Law Society in the coming days, but I'm not sure this particular dispute has gone anywhere fast, is it?

This is sort of the fruition of, hopefully the fruition, because there may be more to come as time goes on, but of an awful lot of warnings from an awful lot of people saying politics is getting more and more dangerous and politicians are at risk.

Yeah, I mean, it's hard to be anything other than just really just shocked, you know, that anybody, politician or anybody driving their car, you know, in the streets of Dublin area that many people know very well.

With the window down, it's a warm day and like to be punched and assaulted as you sit in the car and the kind of relatively confined space that you're in.

I mean...

it just doesn't bear thinking about.

Now, we don't know what the exact motivation was, whether it was political.

I remember, you know, 10, 12 years ago when things were pretty hot, I was in government and, you know, one of the things that you really valued, and I'm sure you do as well, anybody who would be known, really valued, you know, the right and the ability to walk around the city, to wander into a coffee shop, to meet somebody, or just to walk to see anything, you know, walk home, cycle home, as a lot of people would do as well.

suggestion that we should stop saying net zero when it comes to carbon emissions because people are suggesting that it has been weaponised.

So why have you decided to look at agriculture this time around?

Well, the Climate Change Advisory Council is a body set up by government to advise it and to advise different ministers and government departments on how best Ireland can reduce emissions right across the whole economy, not just in agriculture, but in agriculture.

the electricity sector, in public transport, in our buildings at home and commercial buildings, all of the different sectors of the economy that actually contribute to our emissions being too high in Ireland.

And agriculture is just one sector.

So this is our agriculture and land use chapter of our annual review.

So this report that we published today was sent to government in the last couple of days.

I suppose there's kind of two main tracks to it that would be of interest, I hope, to farmers.

And I know there's a lot of anger in that for some people, they've invested a hell of a lot of money and financially maybe now be in difficulties in that they can't just flick a switch and go back to the way things were done many years ago.

If they get it, why has progress been so slow?

Well, I think you're looking at long-entrenched practices for generations in Irish farming.

Not just Irish farming, but farming in, in, across the world, but just looking at Ireland.

So it is very, very difficult, uh, to change things quickly.

It's very difficult just to snap your fingers and say we can change things, uh, overnight.

But it's true, though, that progress has to be quicker, it has to be faster.

We're too, you know, we are behind on a lot of the goals that we set ourselves.

So for people looking at, "Why am I installing chargers at home? Why am I switching to EV? Why am I doing all this stuff when the vast bulk of our emissions continues largely unabated?"

What impact are these extremes having?

Well, there could hardly be a farm in Ireland that wasn't affected by climate change this year in one shape or form.

Drought one part of the year, floods another side.

So the impact is real on farms and on farming.

And that's why in this report we actually are taking, you know, there's a sort of a twin track approach, if you like.

According as we have to increase the momentum towards reducing our emissions, particularly now in the next phase to 2030, we also have to look at the impact and look at the impact on the ground, as it were, in farms for farmers, for farming communities.

And so therefore, we're advocating, first of all, in relation to the emissions reduction, things that we've said before, more diversification, use of fertilisers that are low emission units.

How will that work? And also you have quite a tight timeframe, you're saying, within 12 months.

Tell us what made you decide, that's it, I am going there, and why?

You know what? I went with my mom and a family friend to the home office on Thursday, and we were assured constantly.

They're not coming in.

The boats are not coming in.

It's dropped, the statistics.

Look at the statistics.

To then sit at home last night and see that Portsmouth was then being invaded and to see so many people down there and so many people so passionate The drive was just unreal.

If it's not too personal a question, how is he doing? How is your family now doing?

What does the Trojans' encore performance look like tonight?

So I rarely lay this many points.

Minus 21 and a half I laid with USC here.

And a lot of people are talking about how they let San Jose State hang in that game.

They won 42-26.

The crazy thing, JVT, and I think you'll appreciate this, they were a 37 and a half to 38 and a half point favorite over San Jose State.

Now that you're telling me that Fresno State is 17 points better than San Jose State, I don't believe that.

What are you going to do with the Pitt Panthers?

What does the Trojans' on-court performance look like tonight?

So I rarely lay this many points.

Minus 21 and a half I laid with USC here.

And a lot of people are talking about how they let San Jose State hang in that game.

They won 42-26.

The crazy thing, JVT, and I think you'll appreciate this, they were a 37 and a half to 38 and a half point favorite over San Jose State.

State, now that you're telling me that Fresno State is 17 points better than San Jose State, I don't believe that.

What are you going to do with the Pitt Panthers?

So how did he propose?

So we, you know, we dated for almost six years and I remember being like, is this ever going to happen? And he had like a conversation with my brother and like, when my music does this, you know, you make all these agreements with yourself.

Like when I'm 30, I'll get married kind of thing.

Sometimes you stick to them and sometimes like God has other plans.

And so we went on this trip.

I was a school teacher.

So spring break, you know, to Savannah with some friends and his sister and brother-in-law at the time.

If you

Is there anywhere else that we should stop before moving on in L.A.?

The L.A. courthouse.

So West L.A., the Santa Monica courthouse, was an illegal spot to skate forever.

That's one of the places I got arrested in like 1999 or 2000 skating with my friends.

They used to chase us out of there.

I mean, that's part of the fun.

And we were just kind of like cat and mouse with the cops forever for decades.

I have to know, what is your favorite item in the museum's collection?

ignoring the elephant in the room, or in this instance, the cow in the room? Because while, if we do all that you want with heat pumps and everything else, you're still targeting 10% of our total emissions, where about 40% of it comes from one of our main industries, which is agriculture, which is very, very difficult to decarbonise.

It is, but we have to work on lots of different sectors.

We'll be coming out with a report in the autumn.

Perhaps I'll be back on the programme to talk about that in relation to agriculture.

A huge amount of work and effort has to be done in that sector.

There's no doubt about that.

But this is the built environment sector where we can do things.

So why bother?

That's movement in the right direction.

Definitely it's movement in the right direction, no question.

Um, now it is somewhat qualified for 2025, in that we had a relatively, a relatively mild winter, so that it's-- they're not really necessarily embedded changes or structural changes.

But that having been said, that's just a caveat we have to put in.

It is definitely going in the right direction.

There's no doubt about that.

Now, just say, just broadly, just for the council, I mean, the council job is to look at different sectors of the economy and to assess, you know, the progress of different sectors against their targets, and this is just the building, you know, the building sector.

I know you'll say there's long-term benefits in that, but it's expensive, and that's money that can be out of reach for many people.

Should he be telling the ambassador what he should and shouldn't do?

He kind of can't.

He's, he's a, he's a sitting Taoiseach.

This is the kind of thing that a former Taoiseach, or dare I say the former minister, might say, but a c- a current one can't.

I don't know if you've met Edward, Edward Walsh, a man of very robust views and not shy to express them.

I mean, this is playing into a broader issue in the US.

You know, we saw the White House, the visit of McGregor to the White House.

[laughs]

If you can't do it at large scale when you have total governmental control, what are the chances of getting it properly rolled out to the consumer? Well, the

diplomatic word to use there is that was very unfortunate indeed.

And other people might say it's kind of bordering on the insane.

I mean, you know, it is difficult, though, because you do want to make progress.

So you're not going to hold back until everything else happens.

But at the same time, you do have to have a collaborative, you do have to coordinate an approach.

So you've got to have the charging points.

will say we're already fairly wrapped in sackcloth and soaked in ash? If you look at the states and what they pay per gallon for fuel compared to what, three times the cost, is that

what are you recommending?

So we're recommending a number of things.

We're saying, first of all, given, obviously, the recent crisis and continuing crisis in the Middle East, we want to, as in all sectors, stop having to import so much of our energy and particularly fossil fuels.

Look to more renewable energy and, for example, electrification in our transport system.

In the public transport area, prioritise things like Dart Plus South West, Lewis Finglas, all of these big kind of projects that can move large numbers of people across our cities and in rural Ireland.

Push for more electric vehicle uptake.

There's been a real increase this year.

You're the chair of an advisory council, and not unlike the fiscal advisory council, what evidence is there that the government are listening to and taking any heed of reports and advice provided by your council?

earlier.

Only about 4% of people who go to TAFE want to go to university afterwards, and there's other stepping stones.

And so all those stepping stones, about 10%.

And then there's another 10% who are doing it for personal reasons, and that's like my mum who went to university TAFE and she learned she did nine tenths of a horticulture certificate four because she really loves her garden she loves gardening she wanted to learn all about you know the different plants and trees and everything and there was one or two subjects courses right at the end and she was like that's unrelated I don't need to complete this so she is a non-completion but she achieved her goal which was to become a better gardener and make her garden look fantastic the um Employment-related reason, the clue is in the name of vocational education, which is vocational.

So people want to go to TAFE because they want a new job, they want to upskill, they want to reskill, they want to start a new business, they need to get a license.

So they need a particular skill set or a particular qualification to get that.

Now, one of the really important things is that the, and I should, maybe I'll just spoil the ending, 91% of people who go to TAFE TAFE learners, 91% achieve their employment-related goal.

I

Who's your pick to win the World Cup?

Yeah.

So it was the Netherlands, which is now not going so well after their draw to Japan.

That's still very possible.

But a surprise draw, to be honest.

But yeah, I think that's one of the surprise results.

And perhaps the other one there, Ecuador losing to the Ivory Coast.

Tell us about the week that's coming up.

Made in Grand Slam titles for Alex Zverev and Mira Andreeva at Roland Garros.

Good afternoon, Mandy.

Yes, and it's about time for Zverev.

He's been in four Grand Slam finals before this, so he finally got it done.

He didn't make it easy for himself.

It went to five sets.

um and he even had cramp during it but he he says that actually ended up helping him a little bit and he he won the final set 6-1 over italy's caboli who who by the way uh was in his first ever grand slam final so that was quite cool to see and then in the women's uh miriam driva winning in two sets she's a teenager she's only 19 years old and at the start of the tournament she wasn't sure she was going to be able to afford the hotel she was staying in for the whole tournament so for her to then go and actually win it and pick up her maiden grand slam title well is just And it seems to be a trend in the women's side of Roland-Garros recently that teenagers seem to be winning it.

Bafana Bafana in action with a one-all drawl.

Sure, nobody will take this any more seriously than they did

before.

Exactly.

Absolutely, Antoine.

And that's what actually focuses, for me anyway, on the real political lesson of this spat, as you rightly call it.

Do you want to be the guy shouting and roaring and screaming all the time for your county or for your interest group or for the people that you represent? Or do you want to actually do something about it? So his brother decided he was going to actually do something about it.

He was going to go into government, support a government and implement some of these policies that they're both talking about and screaming and shouting about for years.

And this is providing further insight into what he did with the 400 grand sterling that he embezzled.

Getting them connected to the

grid, dealing with all the planning challenges that are there, bottlenecks as they're sometimes called, but also having a grid system that has the capacity to cope with all of the new renewable energy that we're hoping to generate.

So the difficulty is, and people sometimes find hard to get their head around this, you know, the grid just in engineering terms or in terms of physics, you know, electricity is a current.

So you use it or lose it.

And so therefore, in order to be able to get the benefit of all this renewable energy that we're generating.

Get it onto the grid, get it to where people need it.

But then, unfortunately, sometimes the grid is overwhelmed.

And that would mean that we wouldn't have a lot of our capacity going to big corporate entities, but actually going to people's houses.

First of all, what's happening with her sister? Her sister, who is obviously not the President, is on a boat and on a flotilla.

Margaret Connolly is one of a number of people on a flotilla left the Spanish port of Barcelona last little while and is aiming to try to break the Israeli blockade.

I know Margaret Connolly slightly.

She's a GP, an activist in Sligo.

Obviously, her sister, Catherine Connolly, is president of Ireland.

So the other story, I suppose probably the bigger story of the two Connolly sisters is President Connolly has also been talking about NUI Galway and NUI Galway's need in the president's view, and I think she's right, to divest and to end any collaboration, research collaboration, so on, with Israel or with Israeli interests.

And I think Enioy Galway might not be wholly happy with the intervention of the president in this way.

It's getting a lot

The authors of a report that sparked the row over retrofit are now after, are they after taking the soup or what's after happening here?

No, I mean, I wonder how much of a row it really is.

I mean, it brings I think it brings forward the sort of perennial issue in relation to retrofitting and all of the actions that need to be taken in order to decarbonise.

It's like how quickly can you do it and how successful are the measures that we're already taking? How successful actually are they? And what the ESRI, I think everybody accepts that we've had a very successful retrofitting programme in recent years.

A lot of people have gotten in on that and I've got the grants and got their solar panels and heat pumps and so on, some people.

But the question is, how successful has it been? Is the money being spent in the right way? And are we actually saving energy in our homes? And all the ESRI, I think we're doing in fairness to them, whilst doing a bit of analysis, looking to see, look, is this policy working? Is it working quickly enough? And are we still going to need some other measures as well? Like, for example, gas, we would still have to, we're better off getting people off oil, you know, dirty, really dirty fuels into gas.

But then the other side of that argument, which is perfectly legitimate, if you go down that road, are you locking us in with gas for a longer period, for a long period? You know, it's a trade-off.

If you're silly enough to use Revolut, eminently traceable, to pay for your dodgy box, which you know is illegal, you're kind of asking for trouble, aren't you? I