Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I agree this is an absolutely key amendment. I was actually quite shocked that the Bill talks about adaptation only and does not talk about mitigation. The idea that we would only be trying to adapt but would not actually be trying to stop, mitigate or reduce harmful emissions of greenhouse gases is shocking. Going to the root source of the problem should be a key objective in terms of what we are trying to do in the planning process. We certainly have to do adaptation where we have failed to do a sufficient level of mitigation but this amendment is absolutely key in terms of our entire approach to climate change. I am very hopeful that the Minister of State will accept our amendment. It is very important that we get this right in the Bill.