Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The debate on climate change should not just fill time as we wait for the good people opposite - although some are not exactly on the opposite side - to cobble together a Government. This is an issue of pressing importance. It may not be the most exciting issue electorally or be raised at every doorstep, but the ramifications of the social and economic outworkings of climate change are as relevant to people as any other issue.

While people are worried about a whole range of issues, climate change is not often seen as an immediate threat. This in itself is quite concerning. Just because the ultimate effects of climate change are perhaps a century away, it does not mean the impacts today are not causing havoc. For example, a report published by the World Economic Forum stated that a failure to deal with and prepare for climate change is potentially the most costly risk over the next ten years, ahead of weapons of mass destruction, water crises, large-scale migration flows and severe energy price shocks. Only in 2014, the European Commission warned that the economic cost of sea and river flooding would treble unless climate change was tackled. Last year, we saw devastating flooding cause carnage right across the State and people are still dealing with the impacts of that flooding. Tell those families who have lost their homes because of flooding that climate change is the next generation’s problem and see their reaction.

I want to focus my contribution today on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, and climate change. This week, TTIP made headlines through leaks. The public needs more leaking of documents to get the proposals contained in TTIP into the public domain. This deal extends well beyond reducing trade tariffs and quotas. It will have a colossal impact on public policy from food standards to energy regulation, which will have a significant impact on climate change.

The level of enthusiasm and zeal for promoting TTIP in this State by some parties far exceeds that of other member states. This has been shown in the failure of the caretaker Government to draft a comprehensive political contribution of all relevant Oireachtas committees on TTIP, despite pressure put on them by Sinn Féin Deputies and Senators.

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