John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue. I also welcome the recent visit by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Palestine, where he held a meeting with the Israeli Foreign Minister. This issue was debated at the summit but we require some clarity on the matter at European level. As has been stated by previous speakers, dealing with the Palestinian problem is the way forward for tackling all problems in the Middle East.

This has been recognised by British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, although one would have to ask if his support for US President George W. Bush and the policies of the White House is leading in that direction. Similarly, one would have to ask whether our support for the US in Shannon is leading in the right direction, as it is rightly perceived in the Middle East that we are staunch supporters of George W. Bush, whom the Taoiseach referred to as a great man.

I wonder if we could get clarity, particularly on the Israeli wall. The issue has been raised and I know when the point was put to the Israeli Foreign Minister she became quite irate. We should be clear that the wall is a land grab and does not go along with the 1967 borders, but instead takes in many settlements. That should be unacceptable and our Minister for Foreign Affairs should state clearly where he stands on that issue. There can be no lasting peace, or the two state solution referred to by the Taoiseach, if we allow this wall to continue in that way. We should at least have a solution based on the 1967 borders.

As a member of the European Union we should be clear that the military build-up in the Persian Gulf targeting Iran will also lead to further destabilisation. We have seen destabilisation in Iraq, failures in Afghanistan and Gaza going up in flames. Are we going to compound all of this by supporting the US in a possible air strike in Iran? That seems to be very much on the cards at this stage. Did the Minister or the Taoiseach raise this possibility at the summit?

I refer to the question of climate change, probably to the irritation and disappointment of the Taoiseach, as this is the third time the Green Party has raised the issue in the House today. Our record on climate change is appalling, so do the Taoiseach or Minister for Foreign Affairs have any sense of shame when they go to summits and present it?

We are currently running at 23% above 1990 emission levels and have the worst record in Europe. There seems to be no prospect in sight that this Government is prepared to offer leadership on climate change. The people determining our climate change strategy are those in the Galway tent providing funds for the Fianna Fáil Party. This results in substandard buildings, bad insulation and very poor planning, the root causes of our poor record on climate change.

Deputy Kenny stated that Angela Merkel was calling for "more Europe", yet when it was put to her that we need "more Europe" in tackling CO2 emissions from cars, she rejected it out of hand. It would appear that Angela Merkel has very good friends in Government, as it is only too delighted to have its Ministers driving around in Mercedes cars. The Mercedes cars favoured by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his colleagues are among the worst emitters of CO2. The EU target is supposed to be between 120 g and 130 g of CO2 emissions per kilometre. The Mercedes E-Class has been the transport of choice for most Ministers, with seven Ministers still using them. Those cars produce 240 g of CO2 per kilometre, whereas the new car chosen by the Taoiseach produces 250 g of CO2 per kilometre.

If the Green Party is lucky enough to ever be in Government, we will be saying goodbye to the Mercedes. I do not care if Angela Merkel is annoyed by it.

See this speech in context