Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

The Minister needs a reality check. He expresses an interest in hybrid cars and then purchases a Lexus, which is the Exxon Valdez of the hybrid world. The Minister could set a better example. There are three options for tackling climate change. We can make reductions here at home, we can buy carbon on the international market or we can buy our way into reducing emissions elsewhere, and we are talking about the latter option today. That involves investment in projects in countries such as Kazakhstan — what I would call the Borat buy-out — and it is not the worst option. We are not saying it should not happen, but it should not be done at the expense of failing to take action here. That is our concern.

On the other issue, two of the options require money belonging to taxpayers to be forked out. It is necessary to buy one's way into it, whereas if reductions are made here in Ireland that is not required. This is a no brainer with an obvious easy option yet, for some reason, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is not doing anything about it. He could improve building regulations saving us 1 million tonnes of carbon per year. He could tackle urban sprawl so the European Environmental Bureau will no longer consider Ireland, and Dublin particularly, the poster boy of bad behaviour. He could improve public transport and extend the Luas to the far flung suburbs of Dublin while also laying lines in Sligo, Cork and Limerick. These are failures on the part of the Minister. Every election sees the Minister suggesting a railway line to Navan and every five years sees more grass growing on the line.

There is much to be done on this issue and I am not sure we have the right Minister or the right Government to do it. The Minister's term paper was submitted in recent days and it was sent back with the observation "more work required".

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