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

It is a terrible pity that Olwyn Enright and others with her scale of talent could not be here today to be appointed as Ministers. Deputy McHugh's forthcoming appointment as a Minister is a huge honour for him and his family. We wish him the best of luck. As Deputy Howlin said earlier, to sit at the Cabinet table for the first time is a unique honour in our Republic. I am quite sure that Deputy McHugh will be good at it. His colleague, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, will need more than luck. The Joint Committee on Climate Action, which is chaired by Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, who is sitting at the back of the Chamber, has revealed in real under-the-bonnet detail that our climate policy is in utter disarray. Last week's special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change referred to this as the biggest challenge of our time and emphasised that we need to act quickly. The Government was hammered for cutting carbon tax measures from the budget, but I fear that when the Taoiseach looks at today's polls he will notice that its poll ratings have not dropped or dipped. I emphasise to him that I think the Irish people care about this issue. They will come to understand the scale of incompetence that is evident in our climate policy at the moment and the need for change. The Joint Committee on Climate Action has to finish its work by the end of January.

I agreed with almost everything Deputy Howlin said, but I disagree with him in one respect. This Dáil has done some things well when it has worked collectively. It has presented the Sláintecare plan. It managed the abortion referendum and now it needs to pass the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018. We have worked collectively on Brexit. Some people have said we should go to the people immediately, but I am not so sure. I would love an election because I do not have confidence in the Government. As much as I have high regard for the four gentlemen who are being appointed to new positions, I cannot vote in favour of this proposal. I cannot express confidence in a Government that is performing so poorly on some of the core issues I am interested in. I am not sure it is in our interests to dive into an election just before the UK Government is about to fall. I think we would be better served to hold our counsel and to go to the people after March when we have seen how Brexit finally breaks. I do not think the election date will be much longer after that, to be honest, because the Government cannot hold. I think everyone in this House has done some service to the State by keeping the thing going through this incredibly difficult time. One of the lessons we can learn from this is that politics works when politicians work collaboratively, which is what the four gentlemen whose positions we are considering do. I hope that in the six months or so - maybe less - that are left before the election, we will work well together. I wish the Ministers and Ministers of State the best of luck in their work. I have every confidence in them. I have no confidence in the Government. The task faced by the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is to work with Deputy Hildegarde Naughton and the joint committee to come up with a climate plan for this country. As I said earlier today, this is something we have to do by law. Nothing has been prepared. The Minister's work starts tomorrow. The scale and urgency of the change is beyond belief. The benefit that can result from doing this work is the creation of a republic of opportunity. The Government is currently presiding over a republic of missed opportunity. That has to change.

See this speech in context