Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

The economy is a subset of the environment, not vice versa. If we do not have a planet, there will be no economy. That is the scale of the challenge in the climate change issue. Even if one considers economics alone, the Minister's solution of significant growth in transport emissions will cost the Irish people considerably more because the rest of the world's population will not look on and say, "In fairness to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, Ireland must look after its economy". The world will charge us for the excess emissions caused by the Minister which will cost us as taxpayers dearly.

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