Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

We will come back to process in a second. The State faces fines of more than €600 million for failing to meet the 2020 emissions target let alone the far greater fines that will kick in if the 2030 targets are not met.

It is a disgrace that the Government is mobilising its Senators and using process to block the debating of the Bill. Globally, 100 corporations are responsible for 71% of greenhouse gas emissions. It is the profiteers who are the polluters and the key polluters are the profiteers. This shows that the fight to defend the environment and protect the climate is linked with the struggle against the profiteers and the capitalist system itself. The main threat to the environment and the planet comes from capitalism. It comes from big business interests putting profit first and the oil and gas industry is at the forefront. Less than two weeks ago, 1.4 million young people in 125 countries around the world went on the streets to demand action. They said we need system change not climate change. That slogan is the beginning of an anti-capitalist consciousness or view point among many of those young people. The climate crisis is set to get worse before it might get better but it will not get better if governments protecting big business and vested interests continue to block Bills like this by using process and block progressive policies such as the implementation of free public transport. I warn the Government that if it continues to protect big business and vested interests, as I think it will, and the situation goes from bad to worse, not only will it have greater numbers of young people on the streets in the months and years to come, there will be a greater and growing awareness among them that the root of the problem is the capitalist system protected by governments like this one.

They will make a reality of the idea of having system change, not climate change, and challenge and change the system to replace it with something better and more democratic, a democratic socialist society where the wealth is used for the benefit of people and the environment, not profiteers and polluters.

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