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

We are about to go to the next meeting of the Joint Committee on Climate Action, at which the Secretaries General from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Finance will make a presentation. We hear in advance that there has been reform of the public spending code such that, from now on, in respect of any project and its climate assessment, the arrangement will apply at triple the rate of carbon, with a much lower discount rate and a tapering out of that discount rate over time. This is totally different from the way in which projects have been assessed to date. In that context and given that we are no way near meeting any of our climate targets, will the Taoiseach conduct a review of the existing national development plan, which was agreed only six months ago without any climate assessment? There was a carbon price and it was one third of what it should have been. There was an inappropriate discount rate. Will the Taoiseach review the national development plan given the public spending code reform that has just been agreed?

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