Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The proposal is not agreed. I presume the Ceann Comhairle is referring to the Carbon Fund Bill and the Green Party is opposing the taking of this Bill with all Stages to be concluded by tonight. This matter will present the country with a very important crossroads and we may choose to go down the road of unnecessarily throwing away taxpayers' money; €270 million is a lot of money to waste on carbon credits. Will the Taoiseach reconsider this Bill and give us more time to consider alternatives because he is, essentially, playing with a carbon casino? This subject has been described by others as a huddle of gangsters plotting the most profitable scam to dodge even the woefully inadequate Kyoto targets and it is no way to comply with what we discussed earlier, bringing carbon emissions to 20% or 30% below 1990 levels. We object to this legislation being taken tonight.

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