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

By 2030, the balance of peat will have been burned and we will have lost the carbon store. Where is the Minister's economic analysis? Am I to take from his response that the economic analysis is being provided by the RPS Group or, as mentioned in the middle of his response, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform? Let us have this debate. I will bring out Lord Nicholas Stern and his economic analysis, the World Economic Forum and the International Energy Agency to back up the case for ambition on climate change. Who is it in government or the public service - and why - that is opposed to any ambition on climate issues? Where is the economic argument that this will make sense for our country? Where is the economic analysis telling us that delaying for ten years while other countries get ahead in terms of economic opportunities is the right thing to do? That is what is happening. I want to see the economic analysis that underpins the Minister's lack of ambition, and then I will bring my list of people with this economic thinking to show why ambition makes sense when it comes to tackling climate change.

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