Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I support the proposal from the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, Deputy Barrett, to continue this debate tomorrow. We all support the change today in terms of the Murphy report, and that is not an issue. It is of tremendous importance that this Parliament reflects and considers the major task we face at Copenhagen. I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach has indicated that he will attend. I wish the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Gormley, well in representing what is a unified view across this House that climate change is our big challenge and that we must work together to ensure we meet our responsibilities. We failed on Kyoto. We now must succeed because time is running out. We should make a special arrangement in terms of having a debate to continue on this subject because the Copenhagen conference is approaching quickly. Ireland may be a small country but we are a big polluter compared to other populations, and we must ensure that we work together to meet this major challenge of our time.

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