Mary White (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party)

I want to turn to something close to my heart. This country can turn itself around when Carlow aims to be probably the first green energy town in Ireland. The environmental challenge of combating climate change is the greatest moral imperative of our time. The global green technology sector is worth €284 billion worldwide. We must grasp that potential to support our sectors and business people through identifying and investing with the Government and businesses to create jobs in the renewable energy sector. We can do this. Germany has created over 200,000 jobs in renewable energy, and with the Government's determination to see through the establishment of the task force on green enterprise jobs, we should do it. Ireland is only at 5% in manufacturing of green technology jobs.

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