Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It was announced yesterday that June was the hottest month in recorded history. It broke the record set in June 2015, which is not surprising because May also was the hottest May ever in history, as was the case in respect of April, March, February, January, December and pretty much every month for the past 14 months. What is happening to the planet is beyond comparison with anything even the most strident scientists thought would happen in respect of global warming starting to take effect. It also is clear that Ireland is not living up to the call made earlier this week by the former President, Mary Robinson, which is that the wealthy industrialised countries must act first and strongest when faced by that scientific reality and the scale of the challenge. Ireland has the third highestper capitaemissions in Europe. Ireland is one of only two countries in Europe that will not meet the international commitments we made to cut our emissions by 2020. We will not get next or near them and will be lucky to get halfway there. I reiterate we are one of only two countries in Europe that has managed that, as all the other countries have managed to meet the targets they have set.

This is not a surprise because it largely is due to a lack of political will. It is due to the halving of budgets on retrofitting buildings in the term of the previous Government and our lack of smart meters, which every other advanced country is now putting in place. Moreover, much as we need roads, we need public transport more and the previous Government pulled all the major public transport projects. Ireland's transport emissions are now expected to grow by 16% between now and 2020. Similarly, because of the policies the Government has set in agriculture, Ireland's emissions in that sector are due to increase by 7% between now and 2020. I could go through every sector in which action must be taken; no action is being taken.

If one talks to anyone in Brussels, one will be told the only political response from the outgoing Government was to expend all the political capital Ireland gained in Europe over the past five years to try to achieve one thing, which it achieved yesterday, that is, to get Ireland off the hook and not to have a firm commitment to take further action. The facts in this regard are clear. Ireland's 2020 target was to cut its emissions by 20% whereas its 2030 target is to cut its emissions - effectively when one includes all the buyouts we have secured - by 20.4%. As a result of what was agreed yesterday, we have a 0.4% increase in our ambition. This will cost us all dearly because some of the buyouts we secured will require us to buy ourselves out. Moreover, some of the science to which we are looking to try to get out of taking any further effort is highly questionable, may not hold up and may leave us being obliged to make much more significant strides in later years.

My question to the Tánaiste is why has the Government spent all its political capital to define Ireland as a country that wants to fiddle while the rest of the world burns? Surely it is not in our interests to place Ireland at the bottom of the league on climate, which is what the Government is doing. Furthermore, we will miss out on the economic opportunity that will come to those countries that lead. Why does the Government insist on trying to turn this green country brown?

See this speech in context