Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

We do not have time - that is the reality. We need to move and move quickly on this. Deputy Stanley made the point very forcefully that a lot of the work has already been done or should be well known on this. We have to look at where we are, against what backdrop we are operating and whether the first national mitigation plan can come into being. The previous European Commission statement showed Ireland as being behind the targets and according to the latest national projections it looks likely that Ireland will miss the targets that are already there by a wide margin, with authorities expecting emissions to decrease by only 3% in 2020 compared to 2005, which is well off the mark. Charles Stanley-Smith of An Taisce put it very well when he said, "to be found to be not on track to meet the targets is damning enough but to be reported as not having an integrated way of making the huge improvements necessary will be truly cataclysmic."

We are talking about putting in place a plan that will allow us to achieve the improvements necessary in order to inch us nearer the targets. We are lining ourselves up for fines in any event but this will at least cut those down. Even 18 months brings us much nearer to 2020 and the fines will start to kick in after 2019. It is at our back door and the way to tackle the gap is by having a plan. We have to move it forward speedily and I do not think moving it by six months is in any way adequate. We need to cut it from two years to six months.

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