Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, the Government adamantly resisted including binding targets because it knew that with its current strategy, it was not capable of meeting the 2020 targets. The Taoiseach said that the targets are unrealistic and made a special plea for Ireland to be treated differently from other countries, even though the whole world understands the urgency of this problem.

I have a number of simple proposals which would help us to resolve this problem and meet our 2020 targets. First, the Government should massively expand the afforestation programme to mitigate the effects of agriculture.

We have achieved fewer than half the targets that were set years ago in respect of afforestation and the Government still has no real plans to increase activity in this area.

Second, can we just introduce a ban on fracking? Why would we even consider allowing fracking when we are trying to meet climate change targets?

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