Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Yes. There is a bit of slippage. One will get off the hook if one argues that there is something exceptional about the Irish economy and, therefore, the targets in a particular area should be relaxed. If we insert targets in the Bill then there will be no getting around the requirement for all sectors to move in this direction, and no exceptions. In fact, the Government would be in breach of domestic law if it failed to comply with that requirement. Some people believe we have a crisis. Some of us believe there is an emergency hurtling down the tracks towards us. Therefore, we also believe targets should be stipulated in domestic law, that there should be no ways around this situation and no exceptions. We believe we should just grasp the nettle and be required to set targets in our own law which would rule out the possibility of exceptional deals or opt-outs at a European level.