Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the work he did in Doha. It did not get the coverage it deserved. I believe, however, that it is a weak deal and that does not reflect on the Minister. We are heading for a warmer world and the reports of PwC, the World Bank and the UN demonstrate that there is a lack of willingness to translate the discussions and talks out there into action. It is noticeable that there is a coalition and I note that the Minister played a role in the coalition of the willing, as it is being called. Ireland needs to play a leading role in that coalition.

The Minister used words such as "milestone" and "landmark" and said that other countries are moving far too slowly and that they need to move more quickly. Since the first day I came in here I have been looking for the heads of the Bill and it is not acceptable that we see the heads of the Bill for the next Cabinet meeting at the last minute of the last hour on the last day. If we want to have a leadership role Ireland must move much more quickly to produce the heads of the Bill. When we start to lay out our roadmap from the heads of the Bill for next year I want to see us hitting the targets far in advance.