Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is fair enough. The point I am trying to make in terms of the programme for Government commitment to create a fair funding model to deliver clean and reliable water is that the Taoiseach would be better off abandoning the remnants of the old model and going for a proper focus on providing that and taking the burden off citizens.

On the issue of climate change, what the Government brought forward in its Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill is disappointing.

It also ignores the recommendations made by the all-party Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht. My colleague, Deputy Stanley, put forward a climate change Bill which included targets for the reduction of emissions. As we have stated in the past, what is important is the introduction of practical measures which can be realised as opposed to making vague commitments on key issues, as is the case regarding the Government's proposed legislation.

We can all see the evidence of the changes that are affecting our climate, including the flooding of businesses and family homes and the devastation of certain coastal areas. The Marine Institute has indicated that 230,000 farmed salmon were lost off the west Cork coast during just one of the nine storms which battered that part of the country last winter. A particular report, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis, indicates that the previous decade was the warmest on record and attributed this to the increase in the burning of fossil fuels. It is generally recognised that humans are creating the difficulties relating to the climate. I appeal to the Taoiseach to strengthen the Government's legislative proposals in respect of this matter and to do what the scientists are telling us to do, namely, set targets which will allow us to minimise the impact of the damage which has already been done and, hopefully, ensure that there is no further damage. The Taoiseach hails from a very beautiful part of this island and the landscape there is not just that of our ancestors, it also belongs to this and future generations. We have a duty to pass it on to the latter in a better state than that in which we found it. I ask the Taoiseach to do the right thing by ensuring that the Cabinet sub-committee on climate change includes in its recommendations targets, timeframes and achievable goals.

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