Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

While I accept that the development plan for 2040 contains certain targets, the difficulty is that when we start pushing something as far out as 2040 that allows people to glaze over and effectively say that is for another generation, it is for somebody else beyond this electoral cycle. The principle of carbon pricing was introduced by the then Government in 2012. Fine Gael-led Governments since then have failed to even raise that by €1 or a cent since 2012. If appropriate measures are taken in time, it means less will have to be done in the latter part of the target period. I see nothing here or elsewhere that suggests to me that the Government is serious about tackling the impacts of climate change or addressing the future concerns the Minister of State has rightly identified. He has laid out the difficult road ahead for this sector. Unless we can bring that back to specific Government action, we will be failing future generations and our environment.

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