Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The goal of the legislation is to create a process that is not easy to dismantle on a whim, either by the Executive or the Oireachtas. Of course, it is possible to appeal it or amend it. The Oireachtas always retains that power. The Dáil can reject the carbon budget if the Members do not like it. There is going to be public consultation not just on the climate action plan, but also on the carbon budgets. The legislation also provides not just for a public consultation, but for an ongoing regular engagement and dialogue on the climate actions that are contained in the climate action plan. The Ministers will be accountable to the committees to ensure that they are doing what they are supposed to do and all of this has been designed and engineered, as Deputy Bruton stated, to be justiciable.

There are many levels and safeguards there. Overall, the basic proposition is that we are setting an emission reductions target for 2030 and that the Members of the Dáil and Seanad have to decide between them whether this a target that we want to achieve, this is our ambition on a large scale and this is our strategy. If this is a strategy that we want to achieve, the Executive should be permitted to come up with an action plan that allows that objective to be met. It must be ensured that the action plan is acceptable to the public, that it brings people with it and there is real engagement. It cannot work without people believing and knowing that it is a fair plan, they are being listened to, the plan makes sense and everyone has been included.

That is our goal. I do not think that it would help to remove the power of the Executive to implement it or to move that to the Oireachtas. The Oireachtas is getting the power now to decide if it wants that 51% reduction and if it wants to reach that 2050 net zero target.