Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At some stage. They are here to share the blame. That may be helpful.

I am glad to have this opportunity to discuss climate change, one of the foremost issues of our time. The past few months have not brought a lot of good news with regard to Ireland's climate change policies. Only this week the Climate Change Advisory Council issued a stark warning that if Ireland does not introduce major new policies and measures it will miss the 2020 targets. While this is not news to any of us who have been paying close attention to Ireland's overall emissions trends, it is still somewhat shocking. Ireland's leading meteorologists, economists and academics, who the Government has explicitly appointed to monitor our progress on climate change, have categorically warned us that we are failing to meet our commitments. That needs to be a wake-up call.

Fianna Fáil has a strong record on introducing progressive measures to tackle climate change, and is committed to an ambitious environmental programme which includes tackling climate change. We published the Climate Change Response Bill on 23 December 2010, which passed First Stage in the Seanad before the Dáil was dissolved. By contrast, this Government is guilty of what Einstein termed insanity. It keeps doing the same thing over and over again, but expects different results. In the face of repeated warnings from international and Irish experts that Ireland is all but certain to miss every single one of its climate-related targets without stronger policy initiatives, the Government has continued with the same policies. As a result, Ireland is rapidly becoming known in Europe as a climate dinosaur and a nation which refuses to pull its weight when it comes to taking radical climate action. According to the Climate Change Performance Index 2018, Ireland is now the worst country in Europe when it comes to taking action on climate change.

This has to end. From a moral perspective, it should be clear to us that mitigating and preventing climate change is now inextricably linked with the welfare of the global population, particularly those in developing nations where people and their livelihoods are almost entirely exposed to the negative impacts of climate change. Across southern and eastern Africa, approximately 36 million people experienced famine in 2016 as a result of climate-related weather changes. This is likely to increase, a point to which I will return. Suffice to say, the moral imperative for us to act should be clear.

In ignoring climate change, we also going against our own interest. Many of the measures which will combat climate change will also be of immense benefit to Ireland as a country. Moving to a greener economy will not only cut Ireland's carbon emissions, it will also create jobs, support local economies, purify its air and make us less dependent on foreign dirty energy sources. It is not only the right thing to do, it is the sensible thing to do.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, passed by the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government, marked a serious retreat from the 2010 Bill published by the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government. Instead of clear targets it had vague aspirations. When Deputy Varadkar became Taoiseach in May 2017, he promised a new ambition on climate change. He has criticised Donald Trump for his inaction on climate change and for pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. I agree with the Taoiseach's sentiment in this regard, but he conveniently seems to have forgotten that under his Government, Ireland will be the second last EU country to ratify the significant COP21 agreement which was brokered in Paris in December 2015.

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