Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. Out of respect to the students and young people who came here to hear my answer, I am going to give them an answer.

As I said earlier, all of us in this House were very inspired and encouraged by the protests that students engaged in all around the world. They put it up to us, the adults, the politicians, to get more done, not just to talk about climate change or to put forward the measures that are popular but also to get behind measures that may be unpopular or may be difficult and unpalatable for some sectors in society. The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, and Deputy Heydon attended those protests and spoke with many of the young people involved, as did Deputies around the country and I am glad they did that.

The all-party climate action committee is meeting at present. I hope we can get a consensus on the actions that need to be taken when it comes to climate change. We need a consensus on carbon tax, regulation and the type of investments we need to make. It will be much more easy to do if we have a political and all-party consensus behind those important measures so that it does not become a matter of point-scoring but a collective effort across politics. In addition, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is working on our all-of-government approach and response to climate change, which will be very much informed by what parameters are set by the all-party committee.

Things happening this year that will make a big difference include, for example, that we are starting to decarbonise our bus fleet, and from the middle of this year all buses operated by Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus will be low-emission vehicles. The first of those is being tested in Cork at the moment, operating off compressed natural gas. We have committed to taking coal off the grid, so Moneypoint will no longer burn coal by the middle of this decade. We will need a transitional fuel such as natural gas to replace it. I think everyone accepts that is necessary. We are also investing much more in renewable energy and pushing that forward too. They are just three small examples.

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