Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 21 deals with the same issues. This is one of the most important points we will speak about on Committee Stage. It is fundamental to the principle and spirit of our climate ambition. If the Bill does two things, they are to set interim and long-term targets and to set out a plan. People need to see that their voices will be heard within it, that they will be considered and brought along, that this will not be just a case of more of the same, and that this will not confirm and firm up these positions. The Minister can put whatever terms on them he wants. We can call it the haves versus the have-nots, or those advantaged versus those disadvantaged.

A number of previous speakers have spoken on other amendments. There is a real fear in communities about what the implications of climate action and the response to climate action mean. We need to accept and acknowledge this as real and earnest. Some of it is based on practical experience with regard to people struggling to heat their homes and pay their bills. They are falling deeper and deeper into this scenario with the prospect, as they see it, of more of the same and worse to come. The Bill needs to spell out that the Government and future governments have their backs. It needs to spell it out in black and white because it is not there and there is deep concern about it. There is an opportunity to improve on it and this is a way to do so. If we do not do it, reasonable questions will be asked as to why not, legitimate concerns will not be allayed, and it will be a seriously missed opportunity.