Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief, because I definitely do not want a situation to arise where we all speak effusively in favour of the Bill and not get around to passing it. I will do my very best to avoid that situation. I congratulate Deputy Pringle, Trócaire and the other organisations which have campaigned on this issue. This is one of the most important Bills the House will pass in this Dáil term. It is testament to the power of campaigning, organisation, mobilisation and the impact those actions have on political parties inside this Dáil and on the Government. That particularly applies in the context of the minority Government we currently have. It is a green light for environmental activists to mobilise and apply pressure to ensure that other Bills, such as the Climate Emergency Bill, are treated in a similar way and are ultimately enacted.

I am glad the Government seems to have dropped its objection on the issue of gas in particular.

We had a peculiar exchange in the Dáil on Committee Stage, when the Government was trying to maintain that gas was not a fossil fuel but a transition fuel. It has now accepted that it is included.

My third point is that this is a bright light. It sends a message around the world and points the way forward for activists all around the world. In passing this bright light, we should not forget or ignore the darkness that still emanates from this country in respect of our treatment of climate change. It has been two weeks since the Climate Action Network report, which rated Ireland second last in the EU, only ahead of Poland in terms of action on climate change. It was utterly damning. This is a really important step but there are many more actions to take.

The final and key point is that the reason this Bill is so important is that as Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan pointed out, it follows the money. The reason our planet is being destroyed is the interests of big oil. One hundred companies are responsible for 70% of the emissions since 1988, while 25 companies are responsible for 50% of the emissions since 1988. That includes companies like Chevron, BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell and other oil and gas corporations. Their thirst for profit, which is utterly unquenchable, is a driving factor in the destruction of our planet. Tackling this issue in this way, by putting forward and enacting the idea of divestment, is absolutely essential. Radical solutions are needed to halt the runaway train of climate change. That means tackling the interests of these profiteers, going away from a society where their interests and profits come first and where they therefore stand in the way of a rapid and just transition to a low-carbon economy. Those interests stand in the way of a transition to reliance on public transport. They stand in the way of energy transition. This is a very powerful Bill that points in that direction.

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