Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I was otherwise engaged when the last committee discussion took place. I thank Deputy Pringle and Trócaire for their work on the Bill. It is one of the most important Bills to come before the Dáil this term. To be blunt, the Minister of State's response is disappointing. It is fair enough to wrap it up in the pose of wanting to engage and being willing to engage further. Let us hope that works out but, as Deputy Kenny said, the substance of what is being said here is not really meeting Deputy Pringle half way in terms of the compromises that clearly have been made and the bending over backwards to address the concerns that have been raised.

I will make three points that the Minister of State might respond to. First is the issue of unintended consequences. It is a stock phrase the Government uses when it is opposing something. It says it is worried about the unintended consequences. There is a very deep irony here in relying on unintended consequences. The climate crisis we are dealing with is a crisis of unintended consequences. Nobody set out to destroy our planet. Even the top 100 companies, which have been responsible for over 70% of greenhouse gas emissions since 1988, did not set out to destroy the plant; they just set out to make as much profit as possible and they do not care about destroying the planet. The real unintended consequences of climate change, which is driven by fossil fuel companies which are the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in the world, and which is covered up by the greenhouse gas-fossil fuel lobby, politicians and right-wing parties that refuse to take them on, is horrifying. It will mean 250,000 additional deaths a year between 2030 and 2050 according to the World Health Organization. They are the real unintended consequences of climate change and we have the opportunity to do something both substantive in terms of investments but also, most importantly, symbolic that will assist the fight against climate change globally by saying Ireland will divest from fossil fuels. I ask the Minister of State to take on board those unintended consequences.

Second, more concretely, the Government has a problem with the inclusion of gas as a fossil fuel. Does the Minister of State accept that gas is a fossil fuel, by any definition?