Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, who was present for the start of my contribution last Thursday. He will have heard me say the Labour Party welcomes the Bill. For obvious reasons, my party believes climate change presents the biggest international challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. It is easy to lose sight of this when we are going through our own economic crisis. As we know, man-made emissions are the main cause of climate change and we believe climate change legislation is essential to tackle this urgent problem. There is all-party consensus on the need for such legislation, although there may be differences of view on this Bill.

The Labour Party has a strong policy on climate change and introduced the first Bill in this regard in the Dáil. As a university Senator, I introduced in October 2007 the first climate change Bill in the Oireachtas. The Labour Party is the true green party and has a true record on environmental issues.