Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I hear what the Minister is saying, that he is here to listen, is willing to listen and he is hearing us and all the rest of it, but Deputy Pringle put it very well when he stated it is a bit of a headbanging exercise. That is not fair to us. We all have a lot to do and if the Minister is going to reject amendments we should know that from the outset, rather than go through these things one by one.

The impact of this will mostly be on activists. Many seasoned activists, people the Minister knows very well, will be very disappointed by the rejection of these amendments. The amendments are not coming from just anywhere. They are not frivolous or meaningless but are there to try to strengthen what the Minister states is very important, seismic and historic legislation. We agree with him on that, but seasoned campaigners and, indeed, eminent scientists are worried about the weaknesses in the Bill. They want to see issues like climate justice, just transition, carbon budgets and carbon capture and storage considered in more detail and done better.

The Minister is not just rejecting the representations of Deputies on the committee but also a huge tranche of the movement, who sat around for endless hours, as the Minister probably knows, scrutinising the Bill and suggesting amendments that will now be rejected. It that is what the Minister is going to do, it is important for us to know and he should tell us early on. As has been said, we can all have a big row when it gets to Fifth Stage in the Dáil but we are not really going to strengthen this Bill. It will be left with gaping holes and historic weaknesses.