Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Can I presume the Taoiseach made a mistake when he said he wants to put more emissions in place? Would the Taoiseach agree that boasting we have improved from 39th position to 33rd is like boasting that Ireland will beat San Marino in tonight's soccer match? Has the Taoiseach any ambition for this country in terms of its responsibilities and the weight of responsibility on this and future generations and the economy, which stands to suffer from inaction in this area? The Taoiseach says he has read the executive summary of the Stern review. It bears a number of readings and perhaps he will get the opportunity to read the entire document. As a wealthy country, Ireland has a responsibility to give leadership in this. Our Government plans a stealth tax to pay our way out of Kyoto rather than making the necessary cuts. This issue must be highlighted and the Taoiseach needs to respond to it. The Taoiseach will stand over a weekly charge of between €2 million and €4 million on the Irish taxpayer as a result of failure to have proper building standards and harnessing of renewable energy, failure to provide proper public transport, while the Taoiseach has spoken about another 800,000 vehicles, and failure to have proper planning to reduce commuting. The taxpayer has a bill of approximately €1 billion over five years for Kyoto. That money could be spent in any number of areas including proper nursing homes, schools and hospitals. How can the Taoiseach justify that?

Today's speech by the Queen of England in the British Parliament has announced the introduction of a climate change Bill, a carbon committee and targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. This is supported by the Confederation of British Industry, as announced by Mr. Richard Lambert speaking on the radio this morning. Will the Taoiseach introduce those measures? Will he introduce a climate targets Bill that will allow us to get to grips with what we need to do in this area, yes or no?

See this speech in context