Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Climate change is one of the defining challenges facing society today. The role of the European Council and EU leaders will be pivotal in making the Paris agreement work. I urge the Taoiseach to ensure it is properly discussed. It is particularly important in the light of the impact of climate change in recent weeks on our own place. We have had significant flooding, serious disruption of communities and hardship for families. It is not just about flooding. It also concerns coastal erosion, salt water getting into the water cycle, hurricanes, cyclones and storms of greater ferocity and increased frequency than ever witnessed before. It is welcome that an agreement was achieved in Paris. This is a good step forward, but it falls far short of what is needed to protect the globe and humanity from the growing environmental crisis created by climate change.

The new agreement is to limit global warming to a rise of less than 2 degrees Celsius with the hope it could be kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, it needs to be more than hope. For the State, it means coming up with a credible plan to cut emissions. Under the Europea Commission's energy and climate package from 2008, the State is required to deliver a 20% reduction in non-emissions trading sector greenhouse gases emissions by 2020. This is not an ambitious target, but it is crucially important. The European Environment Agency has reported that while the European Union is expected to exceed its 2020 reduction targets, the State will not. We will be lucky to achieve half of the target which must be a matter of grave concern for the Taoiseach and the Government. The Environmental Protection Agency is reported this morning as stating it has real concerns about the ability of the State to meet its EU commitments for 2020.

Sinn Féin supports a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. The conclusion of the Paris conference and the agreement reached mean that a much wider public and political debate on climate change and the necessary measures to tackle it is needed.

This should be discussed at the European Council and the Commission but it would also be a very good start if we had such a debate here.

I note that Britain's in-out referendum is on the agenda. Sinn Féin firmly believes that a British withdrawal from the EU would represent a political and economic setback for Ireland and would hinder the process of democratic transformation in the North. A Brexit has raised the real prospect of a reinforced partition with a potential for customs checkpoints, trading tariffs and adverse knock-on effects for the all-island economy. Apart from these negative economic, social and political implications, the proposed referendum is profoundly undemocratic. The referendum as planned will allow the views of English voters to dictate the future relationship of the North - and therefore the island as a whole - with the EU. David Cameron is seeking an end to what he has described as the "ever closer union" and wants a guarantee that Britain will not lose out economically because it refuses to join the single currency. He also wants action to curb migration, including making it significantly harder for workers from the rest of the EU to claim benefits if they are living and working in Britain for less than four years. Two new opinion polls published yesterday suggest that support is growing within Britain to exit the EU. The Daily TelegraphICM survey shows that half of British voters support a Brexit. InThe Express, another poll reports that 42% want to leave the EU compared to 40% who will vote to stay in. If one adds in undecided voters, 51% currently back a Brexit. The British public and political momentum at this time appears to be behind leaving the EU, although this can change. There has also been speculation that the referendum could take place earlier than expected. What plans does the Government have to minimise economic disruption in the event that a referendum in Britain results in an exit from the EU?

A significant portion of tomorrow's Council meeting will be devoted to a discussion of anti-terrorism measures as well as steps to deal with the refugee crisis. I join with the Taoiseach in commending the crew of the LE Samuel Beckettwho return home for Christmas shortly. I presume that if our humanitarian search and rescue mission is required in the future, the crews and three vessels involved will not be found wanting. Mar a dúirt an Taoiseach, táimid an-bhródúil astu. Táimid fíorbhuíoch do na fir agus na mná sin.

Yesterday it was announced that new border checks will be introduced for people arriving at the EU's external borders. It is also planned to establish an EU coastguard to patrol EU waters as part of an effort to reduce the number of migrants and refugees. We have yet to hear the detail of the Government's approach to these plans. The Commission has unveiled plans for a new European border guard to replace the existing border agency, Frontex. While this State is not obliged to participate in this new agency, we have participated in Frontex operations previously. A Commission official said that this State is expected to take part and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Flanagan, said on Monday that he expected the Government to play its part. We need to be told what this means. The issues involved are critical and deserve urgent attention but they represent the symptoms of the problem. We must urgently encourage a peace settlement. That is the only way to tackle the causes of the problems and to build a lasting peace in the region.

Yesterday the trial of Irish citizen Ibrahim Halawa in Egypt was postponed yet again. His trial has been postponed nine times to date. Last Sunday Ibrahim marked his 20th birthday in prison, his third birthday in jail without trial. My party colleague, Lynn Boylan MEP, has tabled a motion in the European Parliament calling on the Egyptian authorities to release him immediately. That motion will be debated tomorrow, which I very much welcome. A new trial date has been set for 19 December. I urge the Taoiseach and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to raise Ibrahim's case with their EU counterparts and to ensure that maximum pressure is placed on the Egyptian Government to ensure that this Irish and EU citizen is released and allowed to return home to Dublin.

The Government has failed to make a positive contribution to the efforts for peace in the Middle East by its stubborn refusal to recognise the Palestinian state and to join other EU governments which have accorded the people of Palestine this basic entitlement. I again urge the Taoiseach to act on the Oireachtas motion on this issue.

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