Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

The Government has made it very clear that there are real reasons of principle and practicality for objecting to this Bill. The objection in principle relates to enshrining in legislation targets that properly belong in the arena of Government policy. The practical objection is that there is no firm basis for the targets. The figures used are not legally binding on any other country and even if they were adopted by international agreement, there would be in-built flexibility to accommodate countries in different states of economic development and industrial capacity.

See this speech in context