Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 4, line 23, after "may" to insert "with the prior approval of Dáil Éireann".

We had a long discussion on this amendment on Committee Stage so I do not propose to repeat it. The Minister is seeking not so much a blank cheque or a standing order, as Deputy Cuffe described it, but a direct debit. Whatever our debit on carbon will be, there will be a direct debit to the taxpayer for the Government to buy credits and it will do that without the prior approval of the Dáil for the amount involved. We had a long debate on this issue, and I have no wish to rehearse it, simply asking that the amendment be put.

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