Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Mathews has emphasised the lack of joined-up thinking and he has made a good point.

In February this year, the European Commission launched its draft country report, Ireland 2015, which said:

Ireland is not on track to reach its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. No progress was made in identifying how Ireland commits itself to meeting its existing binding climate and energy targets for the period up to 2020 in an integrated way and how best to use the earmarked available EU support for the structural development needed in the different areas.

The Commission is even insinuating that Ireland is missing out on funding because the Government has failed to go in a certain direction and to take certain initiatives. It is pretty damning.

An Taisce has been heavily involved in this area. Mr. Charles Stanley-Smith of the organisation's climate change committee 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 will be truly cataclysmic". The Government parties have omitted mandatory targets from the Bill. It is as if they do not want to know. The notion is that we have EU obligations and, therefore, we are fine but it is obvious that we are not given that we are not even meeting a target that was set in 2005 of a 20% reduction in emissions by 2020. We are only coming up with approximately 3%.

It is glaringly obvious that we especially need targets. It is criminal that they are not included in this Bill.

See this speech in context