Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Before the summer break, the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, published the national mitigation plan on climate action. He is present today. I have read the plan. It is a voluminous publication and a complete work of fiction. It lets down the country in terms of dealing with climate change.

This weekend, our delegation will attend the COP23 in Bonn and examine our contribution towards mitigating climate change and our adherence to the Paris Agreement targets. Disgracefully, we are miles behind what we should be achieving. Hand on heart, I will be mortified to go to Bonn as part of the Irish delegation. We have much to answer for.

Not once has there been a Dáil discussion on the important issue of the national mitigation plan, yet it affects everything we do. Even in the current rail strike, the question of climate change features centrally.

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