Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will take on board Deputy Colreavy's insights in regard to TTIP and ISDS. To answer Deputy Wallace's question, I support the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, in bringing forward the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill. That legislation constitutes progress. In fairness, however, notwithstanding its importance, it is only one element of what we need to do. The notion that putting targets into legislation would, by definition, make those targets happen is a little naive. The international targets up to 2020 are legally binding and it will be a real challenge for us to meet them. In the coming months, especially after the meeting in Paris in December, we will see the process kick in whereby individual member states are given targets for 2030. They will be very challenging and demanding targets and we are obliged to comply with them. That will require a collective effort by the whole country and the whole political system if the challenge of climate change is to be addressed properly.

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