ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Plan and administered on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the statutory function of co-ordinating and promoting environmental research. The research was also part-funded by Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) under the Research Development and Demonstration programme. SEI, which has a mission to promote and assist the development of sustainable energy, is funded by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan 2000–2006 with programmes part-financed by the European Union. Sue Scott is a Senior Research Officer and, at the time that he worked on this project, John Eakins was a Research Assistant at the Economic and Social Research Institute. The authors would like to thank Jim Dalton of the CSO for advice and supply of data, Stephen Hanna and Kieran O’Dwyer of the Department of Social and Family Affairs for guidance on services, and Paddy Molloy of Revenue for information on the income tax system. A debt of gratitude is owed to colleagues Tim Callan and Brian Nolan for advice on policy options, and to Brenda Gannon and Bertrand Maître for technical advice. DISCLAIME