Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the European Union and sustainable development policy, we will work in close co-operation with our EU partners, and we recognise this is a vital part of achieving sustainable development. The Government must play an active role in establishing and implementing EU policies to ensure that all countries are in lockstep on the issue and no competitive issues arise that disadvantage certain countries.

The Amsterdam treaty made sustainable development a core task of the European Community. In December 1999 the EU Heads of State and Government asked the Commission to produce a sustainable development strategy, entitled A Sustainable Europe for a Better World, for the EU, and it was presented to the Gothenburg summit in 2001. The Treaty of Lisbon states that one of the EU's objectives is to work for sustainable development based in particular on a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment. The Europe 2020 strategy adopted by the EU in 2010 sets targets for the decade in the following areas: employment, research and development and innovation; climate change and energy; and education and poverty and social exclusion. The 2020 strategy reaffirms the collective determination to ensure fiscal sustainability, including accelerating plans for fiscal consolidation. It supports a shift towards a resource-efficient and low-carbon economy, and the European Commission has committed to using a range of financing and economic instruments to achieve this objective.

To conclude, I want to reiterate our commitment to sustainable development, which has to be at the core of future public policy, both domestically and internationally. As I said, we have made significant progress over the past decade in advancing environmentally friendly policies and copperfastening the role of sustainable development at the heart of public policy. However, as I have said on numerous occasions during these few words, the Government must match its words with actions. It is vital the Minister moves the climate change Bill a bit further than the C list. He would like to finish his term with more than a C grade. At the moment it is languishing in the "fail" category but I am sure he can find ways and means of bringing it onto the A list.

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