Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I thank all those who contributed to the debate. There were some measured speeches, unlike that of the Minister of State. If we reflect on what is happening we will see the time has now come to decouple the people from this Government because it has not done its job.

Ireland is not meeting its Kyoto targets. Since the first climate change strategy was produced by the Government emissions have increased rather than decreased. Notwithstanding the good work which was commenced by the initial climate change strategy the policy has now gone out of kilter. One of the key reasons for that is the fact that emissions from transport are 160 times greater than in 1990.

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