Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In a cynical and, frankly, despicable effort to protect the interests of the fossil fuel industry and oil exploration companies, Fine Gael and its Independent Alliance colleagues are abandoning their promise in the programme for Government to take "radical and ambitious action to deal with climate change" in which regard they said they would be world leaders. Simultaneously, they are sabotaging the democratic process of the Dáil to prevent Deputy Bríd Smith's Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018 to progress, notwithstanding the fact that it was passed overwhelmingly by the House. The Bill seeks to ban the issuing of further exploration licences for gas and oil exploration in Ireland. This is an abandonment of the Government's so-called commitment to deal with climate change as well as a very serious abuse of the democratic processes of the Dáil.

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