Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy will be aware that the Government will have to consider many legislative commitments between now and then. Obviously, there is a view that the climate change Bill can be worked on. At the moment, the real issue is whether the Copenhagen summit will be a success. There are many major policy issues and further discussions will take place to try to ensure that states such as the US and China will engage and be in a position to contribute to a solution. The UN conference to which the Deputy referred arose on foot of the efforts by the UN Secretary General to create more political momentum as we enter a critical phase of negotiations. The conference was successful in that regard but everyone's focus is now on converting political momentum into political will and outcomes which measure up to the challenge.

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