Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

The Taoiseach is being up-front today but nobody seems to want the Local Government (Mayor and Regional Authority of Dublin) Bill 2010, yet it is being rammed through the House for the gratification of the absent Green Party Ministers. The Climate Change Response Bill, which is now the big issue for the Green Party, was the subject of discussion at an all-party committee. What the Government is doing in this respect is attempting, through legislation, to make guidelines binding targets to which any future Government can be held to legal account. We have never measured up to any of the targets or guidelines agreed either in the Kyoto Protocol or since and here we have absent Ministers seeking to force the issue. While we agree with the Bill in principle, it is poor form to force through legislation that makes guidelines or targets legally binding on a future Government which may be held to account in a court of law.

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