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

Our shocking failure to reduce CO2 emissions has been further exposed by the EPA's report. Is the Taoiseach willing to take the radical action necessary and end the special pleading for our pathetic performance? Both Deputy Bríd Smith and Deputy Eamon Ryan this week and last week submitted Bills proposing a decision to grant no more licences for the exploration of oil and gas. If we were to do that, we would contribute significantly as a country. Deputy Bríd Smith reports from the Bonn summit that delegates were very excited about the prospect that if it happened in Ireland, like the fracking ban, it could have a huge impact internationally. If we were to make that decision, we could go from being the worst to being a leader.

I have been banging on in the Dáil for the past six years about forests and trees. Our performance in afforestation is shockingly bad. It is one of the worst in Europe. We are missing all our targets. Our level of forest cover is pathetically low. The Larry Goodmans of this world and the big ranchers are to blame because they want the land for their businesses, but we need to increase the level of our forest cover. There are ways to do this that farmers would get behind if we were to support them and explain how increasing the level of forest cover on their land would benefit them financially and the environment without infringing on other things. We need to do something about Coillte's failure to plant trees.

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