Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 40:

In page 7, line 34, to delete "have regard to" and substitute "comply with and take account of".

This amendment requires that the Minister and the Government take account of certain matters when performing functions under this section. The need to have regard to those matters is in page 7 of the Bill but I want to substitute "have regard to" with the words "comply with and take account of". Those of us who have come through county councils will be very familiar with the term "the need to have regard to" in respect of this, that or the other but in actual fact it means very little and we have seen it set aside many times. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015 is very important legislation and we have tried to firm it up in this way as it has been described by a number of speakers as being "very fluffy" and not very solid in terms of setting targets in a whole range of areas. It is important we stitch this into the Bill and that it is writ large in this section that the Government must comply with and take account of the matters in question when performing its functions.

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