Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is important that our overall plan be sensitive to Ireland's set-up, particularly agriculture, given its potential and contribution to the economy. This is a separate issue from the overall point, namely, our national objective and setting specific targets across sectors. Unfortunately, the Bill is too much about vague aspirations rather than the clear targets we need to set. Section 4 indicates that the national mitigation plan shall "specify the policy measures that, in the opinion of the Government, would be required in order to manage greenhouse gas emissions and the removal of greenhouse gas at a level that is appropriate for furthering the achievement of the national transition objective". That is what the mitigation plan sets out, yet we will make no mention of how each of the policy measures will contribute to the overall objective. Again, we are going around in circles. It is essential to the Bill, given its weaknesses, and we should reconsider the issue.