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

That is fair enough. We have obviously a very serious difference about how to tackle climate change: it emerges every time we have this discussion. The Bill I have before the House passed Second Stage. There was strong cross-party support for it although the Government may be opposing it. What the Government is doing by extending these licences and leaseholds is attempting to sabotage that Bill. If it does pass, the effect of it will be to say that we are leaving fossil fuels in the ground. That is the point of it. Science tells us that we must leave 80% of the known reserves in the ground, never mind finding new reserves, in order to reach our targets under the Paris Agreement. I believe the continual issuing of licences and extending of leaseholds is an attempt to sabotage the essence of that Bill, the aim of which is to say that Ireland will be a leader in terms of challenging the overuse of fossil fuels, their over-burning and over-extraction on a global scale. We could be a leader as one of maybe five countries that will have achieved this. I am just making the point and pointing out to the public that the extension and continued issuing of licences flies in the face of the Government's commitment on climate change.

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