Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This is a pivotal moment in respect of climate change and the environment in Ireland. To try to stop this Bill would be unforgivable. The Government and its agents have done everything to subvert the democratic will of this House and this Bill. The skullduggery and tomfoolery of what is going on has been absolutely shocking. The process has been rigged from the very start to subvert that process. It is not the first time. Other Bills have been subverted, particularly in respect of medical cannabis. Other Bills from Solidarity-PBP have been subverted. New politics seems a very distant term that was bandied around this place. It seems very antiquated and jaded. I have said before that there is a democratic deficit in this House where the majority of Deputies who want to see popular legislation for the will of the people, this has been always subverted. I would go as far as to say this Government has lost its legitimacy to rule. Many people are looking on and asking about the effects on the environment. As Deputy Bríd Smith said, there has to be a reason the Government is so adamantly opposed to the Bill. It is clear that the reason is there are vested interests, particularly oil companies, which have the ear of the Government. The majority of people want decisive action on the environment by supporting this motion.

The slogan of the environmental movement has been one of system change, not climate change. To challenge that, we have to challenge the elephant in the room, which is capitalism. Capitalism is the source of all the evils of environmental catastrophe and vandalism. The pursuit of insatiable profits by oil companies and by the big multinationals in the world has brought the planet to the brink of a catastrophe. Until we challenge that we will skirt around the edges of the environmental movement. This comes down to ideology. Fine Gael's ideology is wedded in the market system and capitalism. The main thing that the environmental movement going for it is mass movement. Greta Thunberg and the many people who have been at the protests over the past 11 days have been calling for environmental action. Climate action and environmental justice are the new civil rights of a new generation. This generation has become very politicised and radicalised in respect of environmental issues. They are not going to accept the ways of the past. There was a misconception that environmental issues were the preserve of a few people in the upper echelons of society. That has fundamentally changed. It is the preserve of the many of the people on this planet. If the Government is the few, well, the few is up. We have to change this planet and we have to change the ideology that comes with it.

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