Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have an identical amendment, which is amendment No. 139. The only difference is one is an (f) and one is a (g) but the text of the amendments is the same.

To add to Deputy O'Callaghan's point, a number of organisations which either engage directly in the pre-legislative scrutiny, or which have engaged with committee members since then by way of correspondence, have raised the need to have a much more explicit recognition of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 here. The Irish Green Building Council has already been mentioned by Deputy O'Callaghan but there are also organisations involved in renewable energies. We have had significant engagement with representative bodies of people involved in renewable wind and solar energy. They are obviously very keen to ensure the planning Bill but, crucially, the national planning framework and all subsequent plans that flow from that have as strong and explicit a commitment to climate action, and particularly the legally-binding emissions reduction targets that flow from the 2021 Act.

It is probably the Act that has received the greatest level of cross-party and cross-Chamber support. The Minister of State will remember that when it passed in 2021, only a very small number of Deputies did not support the legislation, which I think is recognition of the importance of it. Given that section 19 of the Bill sets out the high-level areas that the national planning framework should speak to and address, and given the absolute centrality and importance of ensuring that we meet our emissions reduction targets, language around sustainable development in and of itself is not sufficient. We need something much more specific and, in turn, legally binding.

I encourage the Minister of State to either support the amendment or to set out an alternative way of achieving the same thing. We are rapidly heading towards 2030 and we are missing all of our emissions reduction targets. There are very significant consequences with regard to our environment, biodiversity loss, public health and potential fines to the Exchequer for failure to comply with our Paris climate agreement targets. This is a really important amendment and I look forward to hearing what the Minister of State has to say in response.