Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 3 June 2021

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage

Photo of Darren O'RourkeDarren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I want to put on the record that this Bill needs to be improved. However, the discussion thus far is not encouraging. We have all gone to the bother of spending time putting amendments together to try to improve the Bill. There is a huge amount of overlap in wording, in some instances, and certainly in the spirit of what is being proposed in the various amendments. Many of them have been ruled out of order and that is an issue.

I support this amendment and the other amendments coming forward that look and sound like it. They are all trying to do the same type of thing, which is to make the legislation more explicit in terms of targets and accountability for those targets, and ensuring the process of getting to those targets is fair and equitable and that the voice of communities and sectoral representatives are heard. We need to see more from the Minister in this regard or we will have a problem with the Bill every step of the way.