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

I thank the Minister of State but the essence of my point was that a bad Bill was worse than no Bill. No one is arguing that we do nothing. We could build on the great deal of preparatory work that has been done elsewhere. The amendments are self-explanatory, being taken from the Scottish climate change Act. Enacted six years ago, it contains copious details on how the advisory group should operate, the work it does and the content of its reports. We have tried to incorporate in this Bill that Act's chapters on the duties of public bodies. Scotland wrote the framework of its mitigation plan into law. Why are we discussing a Bill that contains no targets, details or specifics six years later? The plan, whatever it consists of, will not need to exist for another 18 months. By the time we have monitored the progress of our first mitigation plan, the EU will be knocking on our door and telling us that it is time to pay up for non-compliance. This is the backdrop to our amendments.

There is probably nothing more important than climate change. According to the European Commission, early action on climate change will save lives and money. The cost to the EU of not adapting could reach at least €100 billion per year by 2020 or €250 billion per year by 2050. Elaborating on the internationally accepted position that climate change poses a threat so serious that it could reverse the past 50 years of progress in global health and development, the European Commission stated that action on climate change would present benefits of €38 billion per year through reduced mortality rates caused by air pollution.

These are actions that we need for the good of humanity, the health of our people and the survival of the human race. The World Health Organization, WHO, has estimated that this issue is likely to cause approximately 250,000 deaths per year by 2030. This is a major challenge. It would be wrong to do nothing and that is not what we are arguing, but this Bill could be better. We owe it to the Irish people and our European counterparts.

See this speech in context