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

In the late 1950s, this country completely transformed from a closed economic system to an open, international one. Mr. Lemass was in power at the time. Mr. Whitaker, the Secretary General of the Department for which the Minister is now responsible, led that. We are now in a similar moment in history in that we need to change our entire economic model from an unsustainable one to a sustainable one. The climate and energy plan we have to present to the European Union under the Paris climate agreement is surely the chance to do what Mr. Whitaker did in the report he wrote in the 1950s. This is the opportunity to think that big and differently and change everything. What are the plans of the Government? What is the role of the Minister's Department in this new climate and energy plan that we have to present to the European Union by the end of the year?

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