Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I will pick up on a couple of points. The Bill is not strong enough and needs to be improved. I do not care whether the amendments come from the Opposition or the Minister. This process needs to be about taking the Bill back to the Minister's colleagues and partners in government, the Attorney General or whoever, and saying he is hearing, loud and clear, that we need to improve on this Bill. It was improved in the previous pre-legislative, PLS, stage and can be improved on again.

My concern is that the Minister sounds deaf to the deep concerns being expressed by communities throughout the country, which he surely heard loud and clear during the debate on Second Stage.

There are deep concerns the Bill does not provide protections for our most vulnerable and those who will be worst affected by these climate measures. The Bill does not go nearly far enough in terms of definitions, commitments and the principles of just transition. They want, we want and I certainly want more explicit detail on this and commitments from the Government spelled out in legislation. This would serve two purposes. It would strengthen the Bill and provide protection for communities. It would also allay the fears of the detractors of the Bill. People are playing political games with this stuff. It is a significant problem for the climate movement generally if we are saying that there is no room for manoeuvre outside of what the Minister is putting forward. The Minister needs to leave the door open. He needs to hear what is being said on Committee Stage and come back with amendments based on what he hears. This needs to be a very important part of what we are doing.