Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The Government's attitude is to say that since we are not contributing much to pollution anyway, we can buy our way out of it. There are two problems with that, however. The first is that buying our way out of it will cost Irish taxpayers a lot of money. At a conservative estimate it will cost €500 million between now and 2012, which might otherwise be available for hospitals, schools, care of the elderly and many other social requirements. Instead of that, taxpayers' money will be used so that certain industries, some of which are particularly favoured by the Government, can continue to pollute. The second problem is that it completely undermines our international position. As the Minister said, this is an international problem. Ireland should be providing moral leadership on the issue, as it has done in the past on so many global causes. It is an embarrassment that we are so far behind in our delivery on Kyoto that we have been silenced on global warming, the greatest issue facing the planet.

The Government will have no credibility in addressing international conferences and making a contribution on global warming while we continue to be so far in excess of our limits. Ireland continues to be criticised by the European Union and the European Environmental Agency for its performance. The Government has adopted a "pollute now, pay later" attitude, which it is standing over. That is particularly regrettable in the context of where energy will come from in future.

A renewed debate is taking place on the question of nuclear energy. Across the water the United Kingdom's Government has already made certain moves in the direction of renewing its nuclear programme. Given the long-standing position that this country has taken against nuclear energy, which the Minister says he supports, and given the difficulties we continue to have with handling nuclear waste and pollution from Sellafield and other installations, Ireland needs to be able to make a credible statement concerning the shift to nuclear energy which is now taking place in the UK and elsewhere. We are silenced on the issue, however, because we are now seen as one of the dirty players in Europe. Because we are at the worst end of the league table in terms of lowering carbon emissions, we cannot with any credibility tell other countries they should not produce electricity from nuclear sources.

This is a bad day for the country. The motion before the House may appear obscure, rather like other motions seeking approval for international agreements that come before us from time to time, but it is a watershed for the country. It is the start of the Irish people having to pay financial and environmental costs for the Government's failure to honour its commitments under the Kyoto Agreement over the past ten years. It has not done its job of getting carbon emissions under control.

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